An Unexpected Adventure
by Maiden of the Forests
Summary: Karra is a (mostly) normal college girl living her (mostly) normal life. But then one day she is mysteriously dropped into a world she knows nearly nothing of. What happens when she is picked up by a company of dwarves on a quest? Fili/OC.
1. Chapter 1-Introducing Karra McPherson

_**Disclaimer: **__The only thing I own in this story is my OC, Karra. I wish I owned certain characters, but such is the fate of a fangirl._

_**And Another Disclaimer: **__This story is loosely inspired by __The Inconvenient and Unexpected Journey of Millie Fournier__ by kiliyousosilly, __The Awkward Adventures of Meghan Whimblesby __by FebruarySong, and __The Adventures of Estela and Addonenniel __by Luna Elen. So if you see anything that looks like I might have gotten an idea from one of those stories, I probably did. Now it's not plagiarism or anything like that. :D And besides, they are all awesome authors and totally deserve the credit. :)_

_**Author's Note: **__This first chapter has been rewritten like six times. So I really hope you like it! _

* * *

**Chapter 1-Introducing Karra McPherson**

Karra sighed as she stared at the snow falling outside her window. Why did it always have to snow on nights she had plans?

Her phone beeped. Text.

_Im really sorry…..i think im going to have to cancel, _her friend Kat had texted. _its snowing too hard and it might be dangerous. i guess you'll just have to meet HIM some other time too_

_Wait a minute, HE was coming? _Karra texted back with a giggle. _You do realize this is the 4th 'him' that you've tried to hook me up with. Lemme guess, he's tall dark and handsome._

_Right, _came the reply. _and whenever you do get a chance to meet him you'll love him_

_You said that the last three times. And its the 'tall' part that always gets me. _Karra was laughing now. _I'd much prefer you find someone short and handsome, thank you. No awkward height difference, you know. _Karra _was _short, and it was a well known fact around the college campus, thanks to her friend's efforts to hook her up with a guy. At 18 years old, she only stood 4 and a half feet tall, and she was getting rather tired of the '_tall,_ dark, and handsome' thing. And how many times did she have to tell Kat that when it came to looks, she rather preferred light haired men?

_Yeah, well, im absolutely sure he'll love you, too, _Kat texted back. _I promise I'll schedule something. sorry we had to cancel. see ya sometime! :D bye_

_Kay, bye. _Karra slumped back on her bed. Well, now that her dinner with her friend, and apparently, _the dream guy,_ was cancelled, she had the whole evening to herself. She absently fingered the key that hung around her neck, wondering what she was supposed to do with herself.

The key…..she had had that trinket since, well, almost since before she could remember. She nearly always wore it around her neck, as a sort of keepsake of her dad, who had disappeared when she was six. She didn't remember much about him, only that he had given her that key before he had….gone away. It was an odd sort of key, sort of angular, but sort of pretty in its own way, too. Running her fingers over its shape, she thought of her mom. She hadn't called her lately…..

Nah. Her mom had always been distant, but ever since Karra had left for college, she had grown even more so. Karra had found it harder and harder to talk to her lately. So she had taken to not calling her as much, and gradually, she had gotten into the habit of not calling her at all. She knew she should, but…..oh well, maybe she could find _something _else to do with her evening.

She absently ran her fingers through her hair, which she had braided up into some sort of a style for the dinner with Kat. Her thick, reddish-auburn hair was undoubtedly her best feature, and she took every opportunity she had to play with it. Actually, its thickness tended to be kind of a nuisance sometimes, so she usually _had _to do something with it; pull it back just to get it out of her way. She kept it shoulder length for convenience's sake, but she liked playing with various braids and styles. Tonight, she had done a French braid across the top of her head, blending into a couple of braids down the back.

_Well, I guess I might as well change out of my dress clothes, _she thought, realizing she was still dressed, complete with high heels, for a dinner at a nice restaurant. She began to fan herself with a picture of her mom and dad that was sitting on a table beside her; it was a bit hot and stuffy in here.

Wait a minute—hot and stuffy? It was _snowing _outside. It really _shouldn't _be _hot and stuffy _in here. Maybe the apartment complex was having some sort of heater malfunction….that had actually happened before. It was beginning to feel like the walls were closing in on her. The room seemed to darken….oh, great, was the electricity having a problem, too?

She was suddenly conscious of a strange white glow. How odd….where was that coming from…..wait a minute, it was coming from her! In shocked surprise, she pulled the key out from under her shirt, realizing that it was actually _glowing. _With trembling fingers, she unfastened the chain it hung on. A cool white glow emanated from it, almost making the room around her seem dark. She stared in amazement and confusion. What was happening? Was she dreaming?

The glow seemed to grow, almost hurting her eyes. It was surrounding her…she was floating in white….a moment later, sudden darkness enveloped her.

* * *

The first thing Karra heard was the sound of a bird chirping. A fresh breeze blew past her. She felt grass below her. She opened her eyes slowly. Little wispy clouds floated in the blue sky above her. She ran her fingers through the grass, enjoying the feeling for a moment.

Wait a minute. Birds? Breeze? Grass? _Sky? _She was supposed to be in her apartment. At night. _In January. _She sat up rather quickly and gazed about her. This wasn't _right. _Oh, yes, she was definitely dreaming. She had to be.

Well, since it was a dream, she might as well enjoy the fresh breeze before she woke up. It _was _rather nice here. She sighed and leaned back against a tree. This was kind of a welcome break from her apartment in the city, even if it was a dream.

But oddly enough, it didn't really _feel _like a dream, or it was an especially vivid dream. After all, it didn't usually hurt to sit on something sharp in a dream, which Karra had just done, and subsequently let out a yelp of discomfort. After clearing the offending stone out of the way, she sat back against the tree and waited for herself to wake up. If she did wake up. She had to. This was a dream. It had to be.

But she didn't wake up. As a matter of fact, after a bit, she began to feel rather sleepy. Ummm…..sleepy? In a dream? Okay, this was just plain _wrong. _For the first time, she began to seriously wonder what was happening. There was absolutely no way she could be sleepy in a dream, she thought, jerking herself awake.

Was this a hallucination? No, that couldn't be right either. First of all, _why _would she be hallucinating? It wasn't like she had passed out or anything like that. And besides, this was all just way too _real. _She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face, the grass beneath her, the tree bark on her back. You just wouldn't have all those details in a hallucination or a dream.

But surely it couldn't be _real_! It couldn't…it couldn't. This was just too strange. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream, or….or….something else! It had to be!

But what if it was…..real?! Suddenly Karra felt the entirely reasonable panic of someone who had just realized that they were randomly transported somewhere without a clue of where they are seizing her. She clutched the key tighter in her hand and tried to calm down.

The key. She was still holding it. Her hands shaking slightly, she fastened the chain back around her neck and slipped the key back beneath her shirt, where she normally kept it hidden.

_Don't panic, _she told herself. _Don't panic. I must find out what's happening. I must._

Just as she was about to stand up and recklessly head off in a random direction in the hopes of finding something or someone, she heard voices.

Voices. That meant people. Forcing herself to calm down a bit, she decided to sit back down and wait for whoever it was to come along and find her. Perhaps they could give her some information about where she was.

Whoever they were, they were obviously having some sort of conversation. Karra perked up her ears to listen; perhaps she could get an idea of who was coming. Various bits of conversation drifted to her. She heard the words, 'quest,' 'hobbit,' 'Erebor.'

Erebor? What was that supposed to mean? And where had she heard the word 'hobbit' before? Suddenly something about this seemed vaguely familiar. She searched the corners of her mind, trying to figure out what it was.

Before she had time to figure much of anything out, a rather large group of people riding horses came around a bend. No, wait, they were riding ponies. Karra was surprised to note that they were all about the same height as her. The people, that is, not the ponies. All except one of them—a person, that is—who was a _lot _taller than the others and riding a regular horse. Then she noticed that they were all dressed rather oddly, maybe like people out of the medieval times or something like that. The tall one wore a grey pointy hat. What was that…..a wizard? Oh, gosh, this kept getting weirder and weirder.

Suddenly it dawned on her why this all seemed so familiar. Hobbit—the Hobbit—J.R.R. Tolkien! She remembered her dad reading that book to her when she was _very _little. All she remembered about it was that it had something to do with a dragon….dwarves…..and a Hobbit….whatever a Hobbit was. Oh my goodness, this could _not _be happening! Was she inside a _book_?!

She processed all this in the short amount of time it took for the company to approach her. As they came closer, she debated whether to run and hide behind a tree or start jumping and waving her arms in an effort to get their attention. She decided on the latter. Well, sort of.

"Hello?" she quavered, standing up rather quickly and trying to look determined, and probably failing.

The entire company came to a stop and stared at her.

"Sorry to interrupt your, um, quest, but, um, I'm kind of lost and I need, um, help!" she fumbled.

"And what would a dwarf woman be doing lost in the lands near the Shire?" the tall one with the pointy hat—Karra thought she remembered that his name was Ganolf or something like that—spoke.

"Umm…..I don't exactly know! I just kind of ended up here. And I'm not a dwarf." Well, she'd been called worse.

"Not a dwarf, she says!" exclaimed one of them. "Well, are you a tall Hobbit or a short Woman?" It was obvious he was teasing her. She flushed slightly.

"And dressed oddly, too," added another. Karra suddenly realized how strange she must look to them, with her obviously _different _dress clothes, and her high heels. Her flush grew.

"Who are you?" asked another.

"I don't know!" she blurted out. "I mean, my name is Karra McPherson. But I have no idea how I got here."

"We shouldn't leave a lady alone in the wild," another observed.

"The Shire is but a three day's walk from here," Ganolf—_was _that his name?—said, not unkindly. "The folk there would be quite glad to help you."

Karra glanced uncomfortably down at her shoes. Three day's walk? No. "I'd be more likely to get lost," she replied. "I really don't know this place at all, and….I'm not sure I can walk that far."

"Are you hurt?" one of the people (_Dwarves, _as she supposed they were) asked.

"Not really….." _But my feet would hurt,_ she thought, not exactly sure what to say. "But these shoes….they're just not real good for walking, and….." her flush deepened even more, realizing she had called attention to her _odd _shoes. "Well….."

"As I said," said the same dwarf who had spoken earlier, "We should not leave the lass alone in the wilderness."

"Are you suggesting that we let her accompany us on our quest?" retorted another. "That would only put _her _in danger!"

"And how do we know she's not a spy of some sort?" asked someone else. Karra gasped, genuine shock on her face.

"A spy?!" she exclaimed. "Who would I be a spy _for_?!"

One of the other dwarves shrugged. "Doesn't seem too dangerous, if you ask me." Karra rather wished they would stop talking about her in third person; she was standing right there, for goodness sakes!

She got her wish. One of the others turned her direction. "You," he said. It was obvious the others had some respect for him, for when he spoke, all heads turned his direction. "Tell me exactly where you have come from and what you are doing here."

"Well…." Karra began. "I guess you could say it's a very far away land. And I guess you could say I got…..lost, and ended up here. All I want is to know is where I am and…..some help, I guess." Glancing down at her feet again, she added, "And I'm not sure I can walk three days to this Shire place."

The leader of the company looked her up and down, as if examining her for truthfulness. Karra felt her flush deepen even more, and she looked away.

Finally he spoke. "A dwarf woman lost in the wilderness near the Shire is indeed rather strange," he said slowly. "It does seem as if she might have been planted in our path for one reason or another." He turned to the others. "What think you?" he asked.

"Seems suspicious to me," said one, the same one that had asked if she was a spy.

"I would say that spy or no, we cannot leave a lady lost and alone," said another.

"But to allow her to travel with us would only put her in danger!" exclaimed another.

"I say she's a spy," said that same one. Karra glared at him.

"We can at least escort her to the nearest town," interjected one who hadn't spoken yet. He was obviously younger and had had lighter hair, with a slight beard. Karra thought him rather handsome. "There she might find someone who could take care of her."

Soon all of the others were chiming in with suggestions, and pretty soon everyone was talking at once. Karra looked back and forth between various people, trying to figure out what was happening, and whether her fate was being decided, or whether they were all just arguing pointlessly. She was just about to plop down back against the tree and put her head in her hands when the leader spoke.

"Enough!" he shouted, and everyone stopped rather quickly. "Enough," he said more quietly. After a moment of tense silence, he spoke again. "She may travel with us until we find a place for her."

Karra let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't going to have to walk three days back to this 'Shire' whatever that was! She was quite happy….for a moment. That is, until she realized she would have to ride on one of their ponies.

"We have no extra ponies," she heard the handsome light haired one saying. Turning to her, he offered, "You may ride with me." As she approached him, he offered her his hand to help her up.

"I've….I've never ridden…anything…before," Karra mumbled. All the same, she took his hand, and between her awkward efforts and his help, she managed to get up on the pony behind him. After a moment or so of wondering if she should or not, she finally decided that she _would _put her arms around his waist to steady herself, no matter how awkward it was. He didn't seem to mind.

"Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield, at least for a little while," he said, turning around as best he could to look at her. "My name is Fili."

"I'm Karra," she replied. "Oh, I guess you already know that. Is your name seriously Fili? That's weird." She realized how rude it sounded after it came out of her mouth. Why did she have to be so darn _awkward_?!

Fili didn't seem insulted. Instead he just grinned at her and said, "I might say that your name is strange, only I chose not to."

Karra bit her lip. "Sorry. Umm…..since I'll be traveling with you, at least for a little bit, could you introduce me to the rest of the company?"

"Of course. Over there on the brown pony is my brother Kili…." And Fili gave her the names of the rest of the company, including Bilbo Baggins and _Gandalf. _Of course, that was his name. But all the rest of the names….they were all just as odd, and they all rhymed. How in the world was she supposed to remember all of them, and then actually remember who they _belonged _to? Oh, well, maybe she wouldn't be with the company long enough that she would _need _to.

"I heard the word _quest. _Could you tell me what kind of _quest _this is?" Karra asked out of honest curiosity; also, she wondered how much she actually remembered about The Hobbit.

Fili seemed a bit hesitant, and it suddenly struck Karra that he probably wouldn't want to tell the details of their quest to a complete stranger. After a moment, he said, "It is a long tale."

"Well, we have a long time, don't we?" Karra said cheerily.

"Very well," he replied. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. My great grandfather, Thror, King Under the Mountain…."

And Fili told her the whole tale, with frequent interruptions from Karra. First he had to explain to her what and where Erebor was, and then he had to explain _exactly _what Smaug was, and then she needed to know what a hobbit was, and so on. He seemed a bit perplexed by her confusion, but answered her questions readily…..with just a bit of teasing. The story took up most of the afternoon, including a short stop for lunch, and after the tale was finished, Fili left Karra to think about what she had just heard.

And think she did. This all sounded slightly familiar, but only slightly. She remembered _liking _The Hobbit as a kid, but she didn't remember much about the _story. _She was really beginning to wonder what was happening. Was she _really _inside a book? And how….?

Finally she gave up trying to reason it out and fell to examining the other members of the party. She had decided that the dwarf she rode behind was really quite handsome, his brother was pretty cute_, _and Thorin Oakenshield was fairly attractive, in a regal, distant kind of way, and she was just beginning to analyze various dwarves' hairstyles, when she began to get rather sleepy. The afternoon was beginning to seem very long, and the sun very bright. The scenery was….well, the scenery was pretty, but the sun was so bright, and warm…

She closed her eyes, hoping Fili wouldn't mind if she leaned on him.

_This isn't a dream, _was the last thing she thought as she drifted off to sleep, her head leaning on the golden-haired dwarf's shoulder.

* * *

_Alright, I hope you liked it, because there will most assuredly be more! I have about a third of this written out on my computer, so the next chapter I'm writing will be far ahead of the next chapter I'm posting. Hopefully I'll stay about 13 chapters ahead of myself. _Hopefully. _If I start procrastinating, just give me a little kick in the….well, you know what I'm saying._

…_..review?_


	2. Chapter 2-Ponies are Uncomfortable

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own The Hobbit. Or any of the other character, except Karra. If only….but oh well. I don't think I need to say it again (be sure I will tell you when I do get a hold of any of the characters! :D). So no more disclaimers from now on._

_**Author's Note: **__I could have very well posted this chapter a couple of days ago, but I only have 15 chapters written, and I don't want to catch up to myself too soon! This chapter starts pretty much exactly where the last one left off, with Karra waking up riding behind Fili._

* * *

**Chapter 2-Ponies and High Heels are Uncomfortable**

The first thing Karra noticed when she woke up was that her bottom was very sore. And then she noticed it was getting somewhat dark. And _then _she noticed that she had her head on Fili's shoulder. She sat up quickly, wincing at the soreness in her, um, behind. How embarrassing. She had just slept most of the afternoon asleep with her head on Fili's shoulder. And she had only just met him. She realized as he turned around, noticing that she had woken, how unappealing she must look. She knew without touching it that her hair was a complete mess, and she must look horribly groggy.

"Ah you're awake now." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "Did thinking of dragons put you to sleep?"

"I guess I slept all afternoon," Karra mumbled. "Sorry."

"Sorry? And why would that be a bad thing?"

"Because….oh, I don't know." Had she just been about to say, _I just met you, and I had my head on your shoulder for hours_? He was probably inwardly laughing at her awkwardness. "Are we stopping soon? Because I'm really ready to get off this beast."

Fili smirked. "Beast?"

"I've never ridden before. I don't think I like horses."

"This, my dwarf-lady, is a pony."

Karra felt irritation rising in her. "I'm not a dwarf," she said through her teeth. "And besides, being that I don't really know much about horses—I mean ponies—I really shouldn't be expected to know that."

"I suspect you're only reacting like this because you just woke up," Fili said mildly.

Karra flushed. "I officially declare this conversation ended," she said sharply. "Seriously, are we stopping soon?"

Just then, as if by some secret signal, the whole company stopped.

"Well, I guess that answers my question," Karra stated. She was ignored.

Soon everyone was unloading. Karra managed to get down off the cursed, uncomfortable _beast _—she would call it that, no matter what anyone said—with a good deal of help from Fili, mostly consisting of him swinging her down off the pony with his arms around her waist, and her ending up a good bit closer to him than she would have liked. With a fair amount of flushing and some slightly awkward giggling on her part, she quickly stepped back a bit, and then walked off to watch camp being made.

The first thing she did was to take off her somewhat uncomfortable dress shoes and pull her hairstyle down. While she was running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle it (that was the nuisance of her hair—it seemed to get tangled so easily), she caught Kili staring at her.

"Oh, stop that, you," she snapped. "Haven't you ever seen a lady combing her hair before?"

"I was simply thinking that most dwarf women have a good deal more hair than you," he commented lightly.

"I always thought my hair was really thick," she said shortly.

"Oh, I was talking about facial hair," said Kili, a slight smirk on his face. "Most dwarf women have a good deal of facial hair."

Karra stopped 'combing' her hair for a moment. "Wait a minute, are you saying that dwarf women have beards?" Kili simply nodded, still with that annoying _(though kind of cute) _smirk. Karra shook her head. "Ew…that's kind of gross."

"On the contrary," Fili broke into the conversation, "I think it's rather appealing."

"You actually like…..? You have a really weird taste in women." Both of them smirked at her now. She shook her head and said, "You guys are weird," before getting to her feet and walking even farther away. She didn't need any annoying young dwarves bothering her right now.

As she sat on the fringes of camp, she began to reflect on what a strange day it had been. It had begun….why, it had begun in the evening! What time was it in her world? Her world. What a strange thought, another world. Where was she? And what was happening? She sighed and leaned back against a rock, which really wasn't too comfortable. What if she was trapped in this _alternate reality _forever? She was inside a book. It might have helped if she had read The Hobbit more recently, she thought. She inadvertently let her thoughts drift in a morbid direction. What if something horrible happened to her here and she….never mind. She wasn't going to even _think _of that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder, and she was rather glad.

"It's supper time," Bilbo said gently. "I thought you might want to know."

"What?...Oh, thanks." She stood up and wiped her dress clothes off. Maybe when she woke up next morning, she would be in her apartment. Comforting herself with the thought, she headed towards the campfire. Riding a pony all day _did _make one rather hungry, after all.

* * *

The first thing Karra thought the next morning was that her alarm hadn't gone off. The next thing she thought was that she had an important class at 8:00 that she really couldn't afford to miss, and she now hated her alarm clock. The _next _thing she thought was…

She flew up and stared around her. This was _not _her apartment! As a matter of fact, this wasn't even a bedroom. She suddenly realized that she was dreadfully uncomfortable. She felt like she had been sleeping on the _ground _all night. For that matter, the bed below her felt like the ground. Wait a minute—it was the ground!

Suddenly all the events of yesterday flooded back into her memory. She was inside a _book_! How could this be happening? She had felt sure she would wake up in her apartment this morning. And she was still here.

It appeared everyone else was up and having breakfast. She reluctantly sat up and slipped on her shoes. High heels were _not _good camping shoes. Neither were dress clothes good camping clothes. She distastefully smoothed out her wrinkled clothing and ran her fingers through her hair once again. She could _really _use a comb right now. She pulled her hair back into a short, thick braid. Reluctantly, she pulled a strip of cloth off her shirt to tie it with, realizing she had nothing else. Whatever. By the time she was done with this _adventure, _her clothes would probably be completely ruined anyway.

The first thing she did upon standing up was trip over a rock. Wincing slightly, she picked herself up and headed over to the campfire. As she approached, the white-haired dwarf whose name she actually remembered to be Balin looked up at her, a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright, lass?" he asked. "You're limping."

"Oh, it's just these shoes," she mumbled. "They're….uncomfortable."

"I can see why!" he said, rather sympathetically, with an air of asking, what evil person made you wear those torturous things. As Karra sat down, he began to rummage around in his bag, finally coming out with a pair of dwarf boots. "Here," he said, tossing them her direction.

Karra stared in relative horror at the huge boots. How was she supposed to make those things fit her?

"Ummm….thanks?" she said hesitantly. "I…I think they might be a little big for me…." _Well, that was the understatement of the year! _she thought wryly.

"Try pulling the laces tighter," suggested Kili.

Karra rolled her eyes. "Oh, gee thanks for the _genius _suggestion," she said sarcastically. Kili just laughed.

She slipped off her dress shoes (_leave the darn things here to rot, _she thought) and slipped her feet into the large dwarf boots. After pulling the laces as tight as she could, wrapping them _around _the boots several times, pulling _that _as tight as she could, and finally asking for some string, which she did the same thing with, she finally got them fitted well enough. They were still a bit big, but they would do for the time being. At least they were better than her high heels. And with fur inside them, they _were _rather comfortable.

Finally, they were under way again. Riding on a pony for the whole day was _not _very comfortable, as Karra had learned the day before, and learned again that day. She found herself riding behind Fili again, much as she wanted to try her own pony. Despite what he had said, there _was _another pony, but it was apparently being used to carry other various belongings. She asked several times if she could have that one, but he _wouldn't _let her. Oh, he was beginning to _really _get on her nerves.

That evening, Gandalf interrupted her musings on the edge of camp by walking over and sitting down beside her. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk, but she figured she shouldn't insult a wizard. So she said, in as friendly a voice as she could muster, "What is it?"

Gandalf casually took off his hat and set it down beside him. That must mean he's planning on sitting here for a while, Karra thought. "I wish to speak more with you about the manner of your arrival here," he said.

Karra shrugged. "What more do you want to know?"

"Tell me exactly what happened to bring you here, to Middle Earth," he replied. "For it is obvious that you know nothing of this place."

_Is it that obvious, _Karra wanted to ask. She hesitated for a moment. Gandalf, almost seeming to read her mind, said gently, "You need not fear that I will think you mentally unstable."

_Whaa…..how did he know? _Karra shook her head. That was a little eerie. Maybe he _could _read her mind, she thought.

After a slight moment's more hesitation, she began, "Well, I guess it began when I was just sitting in my apartment, being bored…."

Gandalf raised an eyebrow. "Apartment?"

"It's….it's my place of residence," Karra replied, congratulating herself on how proper she had sounded. "My home, I guess you could say. Anyway, as I was saying, I was sitting in my apartment one evening…"

And so she told him the whole story; oddly enough, leaving out the part the key had played in it, though she wasn't exactly sure why. When she was finished, she leaned back against a rock and said, "Well, what's your opinion on all this?"

Gandalf thought for a moment. "This is all very interesting," he finally spoke. "It is remotely possible that you are indeed from another realm, of sorts, and you encountered a portal, or intersection between realms. Although, such a thing has never been known the happen before. And how you could have lived for years so near the location of the portal and have nothing happen is indeed a mystery." He fingered the tip of his hat. "It is also possible that you were dropped here by the Valar."

Karra looked at him blankly. "The Valar?"

"The powers that rule this world," Gandalf explained.

Karra wrinkled her brow. "You mean, like _gods _or something?!"

Gandalf nodded. "Yes, they have been called that."

"That's weird." Karra shook her head, then abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know how I can get back?"

Gandalf shook his head. "I know of no way."

Karra sighed. "I thought so," she said dejectedly. "Well, I guess I'll be finding a life here in some town or something. At any rate," and here she glanced up at the dwarves, "I probably won't be with this company much longer."

She didn't know how wrong she was.

* * *

_Random note: in a first draft of this chapter, I had said, 'She simply shook her head and said "You guys are weird," before walking off to the edge to watch camp being made.' I realized a bit later that I had written, 'before walking __**off the edge **__to watch camp being made.' Ah, the mistakes one can make when one is typing too fast._

_If you review, I'll give you Legolas for free. No, seriously, you can have him._

_Or Thorin. Take your pick. If you review, you can have Legolas or Thorin, for free. ;)_


	3. Chapter 3-Of Dwarven Princes

_**Author's Note: **__This was kind of a weird chapter to write. Generally, I wanted to give the impression of a lot of traveling. I suppose I could have split it up into two chapters, but each section seemed too short to be its own chapter. So, sorry if this chapter seems a little split up or a bit too episodic._

* * *

**Chapter 3-Of Dwarven Princes and Dwarven Songs**

This was taking a lot longer than Karra expected. She had thought they would travel for, oh, maybe a couple of days, and then she would be dropped off in some town or something. But instead, it seemed the dwarves had chosen a most circuitous route through the wilderness of Middle Earth, through much rocky terrain, many hills, and even some forests. At the very least, Karra was getting rather used to riding every day and camping every night. She was accepted as a temporary member of the Company without much hesitation, and the dwarves amiably included 'the lass' in every conversation and tale.

"You know," she said to Fili, who she always seemed to end up riding behind, one day, "I'm beginning not to mind ponies so much. Now if only I could have my own to ride."

Fili shook his head with a grin. "What do you think, Kili?" he asked. "Do you think we can trust her with a pony?"

Kili shook his head with an equally mischievous grin on his face. "I wouldn't risk it," he said. "She'd probably fall off and break her neck."

Karra rolled her eyes. "I am so riding with somebody else tomorrow," she said lightly. She wasn't at all insulted; she had gotten rather used to their teasing. To her comfort, she wasn't the only one; it seemed that the whole company teased Bilbo terribly, too.

Soon it began to grow dark, and the company came to a stop. Fili slid off their shared pony and helped Karra off the way he usually did; swinging her to the ground gallantly with his arms about her waist.

She had to admit, she rather liked the way he did that.

Glancing around at the place where they would be camping that night, she spotted something through the trees that looked like water.

"Wait, are we camping by a stream tonight?" she asked.

"Yes," Fili replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Yesss!" she exclaimed. "Excuse me while I go take a wash in the stream. I'm serious; I haven't had a bath in _forever._" Seeing Fili looking at her oddly, she added, "You don't really care about that kind of stuff, do you." She shrugged. "Whatever. I, for one, am going to get cleaned up while I have the chance." She promptly headed off towards the stream. The last thing she heard was Fili calling, "Be careful!"

"What!" she called back cheerfully. "It's not like I'm going to get attacked by a wolf or something!"

Once at the stream, she quickly slipped off her clothes and slipped into the water, fervently hoping that no one in the company came to find her anytime soon. _That _would be…very awkward, to say the very least.

It felt _good _to wash off the dirt and grime she had accumulated over the last few weeks of traveling. Her hair could have used a bottle of shampoo and a good comb, but since she _obviously _had neither, she had to content herself with running her fingers through her hair, as she did, or tried to do, every night. She was seriously contemplating cutting it short. Although thick hair _could _be fun, it was horrible when it came to tangles.

She climbed out of the stream, feeling significantly refreshed, and slipped her clothes back on. These clothes couldn't really be called dress clothes anymore, she reflected. They could have passed for beggar's clothes! Besides the strip she had pulled off her shirt to tie her hair back, the bottom of her pants was ripped in several places, and the whole outfit was generally a complete mess. She realized with a slight grin that the large dwarf boots made her look horribly mismatched. Oh, well, no one here minded.

She was standing by the stream, running her fingers through her wet hair, when she heard someone coming. A moment later, Fili stepped out of the trees. For a moment, Karra was irritated. If he had come just a moment earlier….! He knew she was taking a bath, for goodness sakes!

"Oh…..hello….." she fumbled awkwardly.

"I was told to come find you," he said.

"Oh, I see," she retorted. "Even though everyone knew I was taking a bath in the stream."

"We were worried about you being alone and away from camp," he said mildly. "Contrary to what you said, it is quite possible that you could be attacked by a wolf."

Karra nodded. "Right. But you still knew I was taking a bath." She sighed and followed after him. Well, it _was _rather flattering that they were worried about her.

When they arrived back at camp, Karra saw that they were preparing dinner. Well, that was nice. Fili had brought her back just in time for dinner. But he had still known that she was taking a bath. Nothing quite excused almost walking in on her in the middle of a bath. Although she supposed he had been careful enough not to come until he was sure she was finished, it was still a bit embarrassing.

She plopped down beside the fire and began running her fingers through her hair again.

"I seriously think I'm just going to cut my hair off soon," she grumbled. "If it gets any worse, I'll just have one big tangle."

"Oh, I think it looks quite nice the way it is," Fili replied, sitting down beside her.

Karra stared at him for a moment. "Is that a genuine complement or are you just trying to flatter me?" she asked suspiciously. "Or…wait a minute, are you complementing the way my hair looks when it's tangled?"

"All three," he said lightly.

Karra gave him an odd look. After a moment, she shook her head and said, "Whatever. I think dinner's ready."

Fili just chuckled. Karra glared at him. After a moment, she turned away and took a bowl of the soup that Bombur had made. How did Fili manage to do such a good job of getting her flustered?

Everyone finished their supper rather quickly. The dwarf sitting beside her, Gloin, she was pretty sure his name was, licked his fingers and let out a loud belch.

"Good soup, that is," he said gruffly.

Karra made a point of glaring at him. "Don't you know there's a _lady _in your midst?" she exclaimed. "You are so _uncouth_!"

She noticed Kili grinning at her from across the campfire. After a moment, he let out an even louder belch. Then he tossed his hair behind his shoulder lightly as if to say, _I can do what I want, and you can mind all you want, and I won't care. _Karra raised an eyebrow at him, and then purposefully set down her empty bowl and walked away from the group, to the edge of camp. Everyone had such _horrible _table manners! Well, except perhaps Thorin.

Bilbo walked over and sat down beside her. "Don't worry," he said gently. "You're not the only one who thinks they're uncouth. Did I ever tell you what they did to my house?..."

* * *

The firelight played on the faces of the company as they sat around the campfire one night about a week or so later. They had spent the whole evening telling stories, tales of the dwarves of old. All in all, it had actually been a rather _pleasant _evening. Karra sat with her arms around her knees, staring into the fire, listening to the friendly banter of the dwarves.

"Well, little brother," Fili was saying, "you must admit, the only reason you were chosen to come is because I was coming." He slapped Kili on the shoulder with a teasing grin. "I highly doubt you would have been chosen any other way."

"And just why did you come?" retorted Kili. "As if you're anything special."

"Children," laughed Balin. "You are both of the line of Durin. Never forget that."

"Oh, of course." Kili lounged back. "I wasn't planning on it."

Karra laughed. "Young, naïve dwarflings, I suppose," she said, sitting up straighter and assuming an air of mock superiority. "He called you _children._"

Kili shot her an amused look. "And just how old are _you_?" he mocked. "I suppose you're old. Although you certainly don't look it. For a dwarf woman, that is."

"Oh, gee thanks," Karra said dryly. "I guess that was supposed to be a complement. And in case I haven't told you, I'm not a dwarf. Apparently I've never said that before." As a matter of fact, the whole _I'm not a dwarf _thing had become a bit of a joke. She had been trying to convince them of this fact ever since she'd joined the company.

"Oh, of course you're not," Fili joined in. "So how do you explain your….dwarven height?"

"I'm just a very short human. Only explanation I've got. I guess you don't have short humans here, do you." She laughed. "And I'm eighteen, if you really want to know, Kili. I can't see you being much older than _that, _Mr. Old and Experienced."

Suddenly Karra realized that everyone was staring at her.

"Eighteen?" one of the dwarves finally said, seemed a little shocked.

"You're only an infant!" exclaimed another.

"Excuse me?" Karra exclaimed. "I know I'm not totally grown up yet, but I'm certainly not an _infant_!" She turned to Fili. "And how old would you be, Mr. Child?"

"Eighty-two."

Karra nearly fell over. "What—did—you—say?" she gasped.

"I said I'm eighty-two." Fili grinned, obviously enjoying her confusion.

"You're….you're _old_!" she exclaimed. "My grandpa _died _at eighty-two!"

"He died young, then," Balin replied.

"Young!" she exclaimed. "He was….old! What are you saying?"

"Eighty-two is quite young for a dwarf," Balin explained. "Eighteen is simply an infant."

"But….but..." Karra spluttered. "I'm an adult! At least, I am in my world….." her voice trailed off as she saw all the dwarves staring at her. "How long do dwarves live?" she faltered.

"Generally around two hundred years," Gloin chimed in.

"Two hundred….oh gosh…I didn't know…." Karra was at a complete loss for words.

"How is it that you knew so little of your own people?" said another.

"I told you I was raised in a faraway land and have no knowledge of the dwarves. And how many times do I have to tell you, I'M NOT A DWARF. So you needn't say, _your own people, _Nori."

"Dori," the dwarf corrected her. Karra suddenly felt that her argument had become invalid by calling one of the dwarves by the wrong name. Turning to Fili and Kili and changing the subject, she said, "Well, if you guys are 'only children,' as Gloin said, why _did _you come? Yes, I was listening when you mentioned your son, Gloin. I know _he _didn't come because he was too young."

"Ah, yes, my lad Gimli," Gloin said. "He was not mature enough for a quest such as this."

"And I suppose Fili and Kili are?" joked Karra, giving them both a teasing look.

"It is as much our kingdom as our uncle's!" piped up Fili, apparently unable to keep quiet any longer. "As you said, Balin, we are of the line of Durin." He grinned. "I wasn't planning on forgetting it either."

"What do you mean by that?" Karra asked. "The line of Durin."

"The line of the Kings Under the Mountain, the Dwarf Kings of Erebor," Fili explained. "Our uncle is to be the next King, and…" his voice trailed off, as if he had just about said something he shouldn't.

"That would make Fili the heir to the throne," finished Balin. "And Kili Fili's heir."

"Wait a minute." Karra was finding it a bit hard to process all the new information she was getting tonight. She turned to Fili. "Doesn't that make you a _prince_?"

"I suppose," he said quietly.

_Well, _thought Karra, _he could certainly look the part. _The firelight played on his face, accentuating his features, and, Karra thought, making him look _very _handsome. Despite the teasing, despite the carefree personality, she could see him being a king, or a prince. She suddenly looked at him with new eyes. She had never really noticed how much he looked like his uncle, how kingly he could look.

The moment was broken when she noticed Fili looking back at her strangely. Oh, gosh, why was she blushing? Breaking her gaze from his, she stared into the fire. Her thoughts drowned out the conversation that was continuing around her. How much she had learned this night! Dwarves lived to be two hundred years old, and….Fili was a prince. A dwarven prince. She rather liked the sound of that. A handsome dwarven prince. She liked the sound of that even better. Silly her, he was seventy years older than her! She laughed silently at the thought. How very silly of her…

She was drawn back into the conversation around her by the sound of someone singing. Tearing her gaze away from the flames, she saw that Thorin had started a song, and the others were gradually joining in. It was a _grand _sounding song, and so very _dwarven _that it gave Karra chills. The whole group was singing now, and Karra began to hum along. An ancient song, full of power and might, it told of dwarves of old, of reclaiming kingdoms and defeating ancient foes. Karra suddenly felt a thrill. Perhaps there was something to this adventure thing after all! The song carried her away to another place, another time. Carried by the sparks from the fire, it floated up to the stars, filling the night with grandeur. Karra shivered, lifted away from the present time and place…..

And then it was over. Karra looked around at the faces of the others, still a bit awestruck. Almost before she could think what was happening, everyone was getting up and preparing for bed. Karra spread out her own bedroll, her mind swimming from the conversation and the song. She climbed in and stared up at the stars, her mind filled with songs and kingdoms and dwarven princes.

* * *

_Well, that was interesting. I'm not exactly sure how that happened….it just kind of flowed off my fingers! Hehe, that kind of makes me sound crazy, doesn't it? Like, I was just writing along, and, oh wait a minute, they're singing? Lol. I think my fellow writers will understand._

_If you review, I'll give you…er…Bofur? Yeah, that's it. If you review, I'll give you Bofur. He's really quite a nice guy. _


	4. Chapter 4-Temperamental Dwarf Women

_**Author's Note #1: **__This is another one of those chapters that was supposed to give the impression of a lot of traveling. So again, sorry if it seems split up, or the scenes seem short and totally unrelated. And on a totally different note, _wow, _Karra was moody in this chapter. I blame the fact that this whole quest thing is totally new to her. ;)_

_**Author's Note #2: **__I have way too much fun naming my chapters._

* * *

**Chapter 4-Orcs, Wargs, and Temperamental Dwarf Women**

"We're getting into the wild lands now," Kili said one day as they were making camp. He gave Karra a pointed glance. "You know, these lands will be swarming with wolves and wargs."

Karra swallowed hard. "What's a warg?" She was pretty sure he was just teasing her, but what _was _a warg? The name sounded terrible.

"Horrible, ugly things with huge fangs," Fili said. "You wouldn't want to meet one alone."

Bofur now decided to join in the conversation. "Imagine the biggest wolf you've ever seen. Wargs are bigger." Karra gulped. She had been hearing wolf howls at night for some time now, and that was disconcerting enough. But wargs….? Apparently this world was a rather dangerous place. She stood up abruptly and walked over the edge of camp. That was enough teasing for one day.

"Be careful!" Fili called after her. "I told you, you wouldn't want to meet a warg alone!"

Karra just gave him a dark glare.

She flopped down beside a tree a decent distance away from camp. As she sat there, watching everyone set up, she began to reflect on the past month or so. It had been a strange one indeed. So much traveling, it seemed they must be on the other side of the world by now. The days of riding seemed endless. At least they weren't silent days. The dwarves talked while riding, and there always seemed to be at least one interesting conversation going. Karra found herself learning something about dwarf culture and history, and it _was _interesting. After hearing many tales of the kingdom of Erebor, she was actually rather interested to see it. Provided she ended up traveling with them that long, that is. And it seemed that she very well might, if they continued traveling through the wilderness like this for the whole trip. She had originally imagined that they would drop her off in some town somewhere, and she would find a home there as best she could. Not that this place would ever truly be home.

Home. What was happening at home? Did anyone miss her, or even realize that she was gone? What about her mom…she missed her mom. Even if she was a little distant. She still missed her. And home….her apartment…..she missed her apartment. Even if it was only a little apartment in a big college campus, she missed it. It was familiar and comfortable, unlike this…..this _adventure. _At home she didn't have to sleep on rocks at night. At home she didn't have to worry about _wargs, _or even wolves for that matter. She felt an unbidden tear sliding down her cheek. All of the memories of her mom and friends flooded back, and suddenly she had put her head in her hands and was sobbing.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. But she was interrupted by a voice saying, "You're crying."

Karra looked up to see that Bilbo was sitting beside her. Oh, he would understand. She could confide in him.

"I miss my home," she said softly.

Bilbo looked up at her with compassion in his eyes. "I do too," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I wish I'd never come," she whispered.

"Sometimes I wish that, too," he said.

"Sometimes?"

"But sometimes I'm glad I've come. Sometimes I'm glad I'm a part of this." He sat up straighter. "It's an adventure, after all. Adventures can be good _and_ bad."

"Mostly bad," Karra muttered.

"But there's some good that can come, too. As Gandalf told me once, home is behind….the _world_ is ahead."

Karra sighed. "I guess. But right now I don't care about the world….this world. I just want my home….my world."

Bilbo looked at her sympathetically. "I understand," he said simply. He looked up suddenly. "I believe dinner's ready," he said, then grinned. "That should cheer you up!"

"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. Wiping her eyes and hoping no one would notice that she had been crying, she went over to the campfire.

Unfortunately, someone did notice.

"You've been crying," Fili observed.

"Why does everyone have to _notice_!" Karra wailed. "Please just cut me a little slack, okay? I'm tired of traveling. And you wouldn't understand. You don't even have a home to miss." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized that she had struck a wrong chord. "I'm sorry!" she cried, seeing the look on his face. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean it like that….please….." Suddenly she began to cry again. "I….I'm really sorry," she sobbed. "I can't do anything right."

"Please…." Fili made a vain attempt at comforting her. "I'm not offended. Please. Please just stop."

But Karra didn't _want _to stop. She just wanted to cry into someone's shoulder, and Fili was handy. With a sniff, she dropped her plate. Leaning against Fili, she put her head in her hands. "Oh, I'm so stupid," she cried. "I'm clumsy, and I'm dumb. Everything I say comes out wrong. How do you even tolerate me? I was never serious. I never meant anything seriously."

"I know….I know you didn't…." Fili was a bit flustered. "It's fine….it really is…."

"No, it's not!" Karra exclaimed. "I've been so thoughtless sometimes…..did I ever offend you?"

"You didn't…." he soothed. "Please…."

"Stop trying to comfort me!" she snapped. "I'm done with my dinner. Goodbye for the night." She stood up and walked haughtily to the edge of camp.

Kili turned to Fili with a grin. "I didn't know dwarf women were so temperamental," he said.

* * *

"Listen, I'm really sorry about last night," Karra said a little awkwardly as she bumped along on the pony behind Fili the next day. She hadn't really wanted to ride behind _him, _but he had _insisted_, as always. "I guess I was just tired, and….I don't know. I just wasn't in a good mood. I really am sorry."

Fili turned around and grinned at her. "Oh, no, it was perfectly fine. I'm sure you needed a….cry."

"Yeah, but I didn't have to do it on _you._" Karra flushed slightly thinking about it. "Admit it, you think I'm strange."

"Of course not."

"Well, at the very least, you think I'm…..different."

He nodded. "Well, yes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Is it?"

Karra sighed. "Sometimes it is."

This time he _smiled, _not grinned. "Not for you."

Karra flushed. "Are you trying to flatter me?"

He turned back around, this time with a grin. Karra sighed and let out a large yawn. "I'm getting kind of tired," she said. Oh well, she knew him well enough by now. "Do you mind if I….fall asleep?"

"Not at all."

Karra drifted off to sleep with her head on Fili's shoulder, just as she had done that first day.

* * *

"Oh, that's nice. We're camping by a cliff tonight." Karra wasn't exactly thrilled by the prospect. "I mean, what if someone rolls over in their sleep?"

"I suggest you camp farther from the edge, then," said Fili, sliding off the pony and swinging her to the ground.

"Right. As if I didn't think of that. I just don't like heights." She was now spreading her bedroll as far away from the edge as she could get it without bumping into the cliff wall. She had never had a problem with sleepwalking, but a sudden fear struck her…..

"I wouldn't worry about it," Fili said. "With as far away from the edge as you're setting that up, you'd have to sleepwalk to get even remotely near the edge." Karra rolled her eyes. "What?" Fili asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I was just thinking that I was afraid I'd sleepwalk. I think you read my mind."

Fili chuckled, then glanced at where Karra had spread out her bedroll. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't realize how close I was setting mine up next to yours. Yeah, not a good idea. I mean, I don't really want to sleep that close to the guys…." She sheepishly picked up her bedroll and set about moving it rather far away.

He gave her an amiable smile. "Has anyone ever told you that you use the language in strange ways sometimes?" he asked.

Karra was a little shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I finally just figured out what you mean by the word 'guy.'"

"Oh! Yeah, I guess you don't use that word here," she said lamely.

"And 'yeah' is the same as 'yes,' am I right?"

"Yeah….I mean yes. I must say, you've done a very good job of figuring my 'language' out."

He shrugged. "After hearing you talk for a while, I began to put words in context. It wasn't that hard, really."

"Yeah, well, at least you don't talk without using any contractions," she replied. "I tried to read a fantasy story once where _everyone _did that, and it was _so _annoying."

This time Fili evidently didn't know what she was saying. "What?" he asked, a perplexed look on his face.

Karra flushed. "Nothing," she muttered. "You wouldn't understand. You're _in _a fantasy story."

Fili shook his head. "This is one of those times when I can't even figure out what you're saying by context."

Karra rolled her eyes. "Nevermind," she mumbled. "Umm….change of subject, please?"

Fili grinned at her. My, he did that a lot. "I think I'll go see what they're cooking for supper," he said lightly.

Karra grinned back. "Fine. Run away from my awkwardness," she said. "Whatever. I can set up my sleeping bag by myself."

"I'm assuming that 'sleeping bag' is the same thing as 'bedroll.'"

Karra just grinned again. "You should be a language professor," she said with a laugh.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, and Karra wasn't exactly sure what had woken her. She only remembered that she had been dreaming of her home, and her dad. She remembered him clearly, although it had been years since she'd seen him. He was a handsome man, thought rather short; her mother had always said that she'd gotten her height from him. She had seen him in her dream. He was sitting on the couch at her house….there was an odd sort of lonely look on his face. And then she had heard…..

Karra jerked upright. There it was again. That was what had wakened her. It was the most blood curdling scream she had ever heard. A horrible sound, not at all like a warg or wolf howl, not at all. This was something different, something more dangerous.

It seemed that Bilbo had heard it too. He came scuttling over from where he had apparently been awake, to where Fili and Kili, who were apparently awake, too, were sitting. Goodness, thought Karra, am I the only one who ever sleeps in this company?

"What was that?" Bilbo asked nervously, voicing the question that Karra had wanted to ask.

"Orcs," Kili responded.

"What are orcs?" Karra asked, at the same time Bilbo said, "Orcs?" They looked at each other and smiled slightly. Karra almost blurted out, 'jinx.'

"Throat cutters," Fili replied. "They'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are _crawling _with them."

"They strike in the wee hours of the night," Kili continued dramatically. "Quick and quiet, no screams, just lots of _blood._"

Karra and Bilbo looked at each other. "I don't like blood," Karra mumbled. Bilbo just looked terrified, saying nothing. All of a sudden, the two 'young' dwarves began to laugh. Karra began to splutter, then gave them a dark glare.

"You," she said caustically, irritated. Fili and Kili just laughed more. Just then, Thorin, who was apparently awake too, came walking over. He glared at the two boys. At that moment, that was what it looked like, two boys who had been caught at some mischief by their stern dad.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin said, and his voice was bitter. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?" For a moment, Karra actually felt sorry for the two…..Thorin _did _sound rather intimidating, after all.

Kili tried to look innocent, and failed. "We didn't mean anything by it."

"No, you didn't," said Thorin harshly. "You know nothing of the world." Turning quickly, he walked to the edge of the cliff and stopped, just before falling off, Karra thought.

Balin, who was apparently awake _too,_ came walking over. Gosh, who _was _sleeping tonight?

"Don't mind him, laddie," Balin said amiably. Of course, anything he said in his thick Scottish accent sounded rather amiable. "Thorin has more cause to hate orcs than most. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain…"

Karra sat up straighter. She felt a story coming.

And come it did. Balin told of the great battle for Moria, a battle that lasted for many heart wrenching hours, a battle that cost the life of the great King Thrain. A battle that earned Thorin the name of Oakenshield, through which he gained great glory in the songs and tales of the dwarves. A battle that ended in sorrow, and in the deaths of thousands—many hundreds of thousands—of dwarves—for every victory must come with a price. A battle that earned Thorin Oakenshield the honor and glory of kingship—for, as Balin said, there, standing victorious, was one more than worthy of the title of _King Under the mountain. _

The entire company was awake now, and staring at Thorin in awe. He turned, and, not seeming to see them, walked through the midst of his company, every bit the future king of Erebor. In silence, the dwarves turned away, and returned to their sleeping places, as if still digesting what they had just heard. Karra crawled into her bedroll and stared up at the stars, her mind whirling with thoughts of the ancient tale. The last thing she thought before she drifted off into sleep was _I am so going to dream about orcs tonight…_

* * *

_Whew, we finally get to something that's in the movie! Actually, I like making up my own stuff better. For the movie scenes, I have to go watch the scene again (not that I have any objection to that, lol!), figure out how to describe everything, and try to make it interesting, and not make it look like I had just copied the script or something. Therein lies the hard part. It's a challenge. I hope it was interesting. :P_

_So…um…who do I offer if you review? Hm….I don't quite want to give up Fili and Kili yet…..um….oh, never mind. If you review, you're awesome. Everyone wants to be awesome, right?! ;)_


	5. Chapter 5-A Rainy Day

_**Author's Note: **__Umm…wow, this chapter turned out short. I just couldn't seem to fit anything more into it!_

* * *

**Chapter 5-A Rainy Day with a Strange Ending**

It was raining.

And this wasn't just your ordinary summer sprinkle. This was the kind of rain that soaked your clothes, and when it had finished with your clothes, went on to chill you to the bone. Well, Karra's clothes had needed a good washing anyway, but that still didn't make up for almost catching a cold. Or maybe _actually _catching a cold. She let out a loud sneeze. A moment later, she realized that she had sneezed directly into Fili's hair. Would she ever stop embarrassing herself in front of him? Or, well, in this case, behind him.

"Sorry," she muttered, swiping her hand through his hair in an attempt to wipe her sneeze out.

He turned around and said, "What?"

"I…." she flushed. "I sneezed in your hair." Suddenly realizing how odd that sounded, she began to giggle.

"I'm sure my hair has had worse things in it than sneezes," he said with a laugh, turning back around to guide the pony around a tree stump. Karra stopped giggling rather suddenly as a large plop of water from a tree above her landed directly on her head.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" complained Dori. Or at least, Karra was _fairly _sure it was Dori. She had pretty much gotten everyone's names down by this time, but they were still weird. Seriously, Dori was a _girl's _name.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done," Gandalf said matter-of-factly.

"Well, that was certainly stating the obvious!" exclaimed Karra.

"So was that," said Fili from in front of her on the pony. Gandalf didn't seem to hear their exchange.

"If you wish to change to weather of the world," he continued, "You will have to find yourself another wizard."

"Are there any?" Bilbo asked.

Gandalf seemed a bit perplexed. "What?"

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us," Gandalf replied. "The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. There are the two blue wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"Wow, a wizard forgets things?" Karra asked. Fili chuckled. Apparently they were riding too far back for Gandalf to hear what they were saying; Karra was rather glad. She wasn't sure she wanted for Gandalf to hear her teasing him.

"Well, that would Radagast the Brown," Gandalf was saying.

"Is he a great wizard," began Bilbo, "or is he….more like you?"

Karra stifled a snort of laughter. She had just thought that she didn't want to Gandalf to hear her teasing him, and then Bilbo went and said something like that! She could imagine the look on the wizard's face without even seeing it.

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way." Gandalf sounded slightly defensive. "He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others…."

The rest of the afternoon consisted of some talk about the wizards, and after that, only a couple of spattered conversations. The rain seemed to dampen everyone's mood. Thankfully, it let up slightly before they made camp. But only slightly.

"Are we going to have to sleep in the rain all night," Karra grumbled as she slid off the pony. She had finally learned to get off herself, only this time, the ground was somewhat slippery, and she would have done well to let Fili help her. She slipped on the wet leaves, landing hard on her bottom. "Ouch," she complained. "I'm clumsy."

"Are you alright?" Fili asked, helping her up.

"Of course. Only a little muddy. As if these clothes weren't bad enough already."

Fili laughed a little. "You're not entirely accustomed to traveling."

"Thanks for stating the obvious. I'm surprised you haven't noticed that before." She was feeling a bit snappish, probably because of the rain.

"You can be fairly good at that, too." He smirked at her.

"Oh, stop it, you." She shook her head. "Excuse me; I'm going to go try to find a dry spot." As she turned quickly, the key that hung around her neck slipped out from behind her shirt. She quickly tucked it back in, but not quickly enough to keep Fili from noticing.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said quickly. "Just a little trinket that was my dad's. You haven't noticed it before?"

Fili unexpectedly put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around. "May I see it?" he asked.

Karra shrugged. "I guess," she said, but hesitated for a moment.

"If it's nothing, why are you so hesitant?" he asked pointedly.

"Fine," she said, pulling the key out. "Here. You can see it." She carefully unlatched the chain it hung on and handed the key to him. "It's nothing, really. It's just a trinket of my dad's."

Fili was staring at the key. After a moment, he grasped it in his hand and walked away, obviously preoccupied.

"Hey!" Karra called after him. "My key, please…..please…..oh, never mind." _I kind of hope he gives it back! _she thought. _What's the big deal about a key, anyway?_

* * *

Karra awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of soft voices. She lay there for a minute trying not to eavesdrop until she heard her name being spoken. She recognized the voice as Fili's.

At this, she sat up and leaned forward, trying to hear what was being said. Eavesdropping was forgivable if they were talking about her, she reasoned. When she failed to pick up what they were saying, she quietly scooted a little closer.

"…one of the keys," Kili was saying. "What do you think?"

"I think it's obvious," Fili said. "It is one of the keys. But how would a woman from a faraway land have managed to get a hold of _one of the keys_? She said it was her father's."

"Perhaps her father knew of this land?" suggested Kili. "Should we tell uncle?"

"I don't think so; not just yet," Fili replied. "He had enough on his mind already."

"It wouldn't worry him. I think he'd want to know."

Karra wanted more than anything to just go over there and ask what they were talking about, but she wasn't sure if she should let them know that she had been listening in on their secret midnight conversation. At that moment, Fili looked up, and Karra was sure that their eyes met. She quickly rolled back over and closed her eyes. Lying there trying to act like she was asleep, she began to try to puzzle out what the conversation had been about. One of the keys? What did he mean by that? And how _would _she have gotten a hold of one of these keys, whatever they were?

Staring up at the stars, she fell to dreaming about her father.

* * *

_Well, I've got your curiosity peaked now, haven't I? Mauahahahaha. I'm going to make you wait for an explanation. I am the author. I have power._

_Just kidding. Sort of._

_If you review I'll give you…let's see…somebody mentioned Thranduil. Okay, if you review I'll give you Thranduil. :D_


	6. Chapter 6-Stating the Obvious

_**Author's Note: **__I'm posting this a day early (I post on Mondays and Thursdays, in case you haven't noticed, and I'm trying to keep up the pattern as long as I can) because I'm not sure if I'll have access to a computer tomorrow, and I figure, better a day early than a day late. So my lack of computer tomorrow is to your advantage! :D_

_**Author's Note #2: **__I had way too much fun with the dialogue in this chapter._

* * *

**Chapter 6-Stating the Obvious**

"You seem sleepy," Fili observed.

"Yeah, *Yawn* I didn't sleep well last night." Karra sighed. "It was wet. And cold." Well, that wasn't the whole explanation. But she didn't really want to tell him that she had been awake for a while puzzling over something she had heard him and Kili talking about in the middle of the night.

Fili turned around rather quickly, as if he had just thought of something. "Here's your key," he said, handing it to her. "I'm sorry I stole it last night."

"What….what was so important about it?" Karra asked, hoping for an explanation. Unfortunately, she didn't get one. Fili just turned back around and said casually,

"I thought it looked like something I'd seen before."

"And….?"

He didn't answer. It was obvious he was preoccupied, so she didn't push the matter. She _did _hope she got some kind of explanation _sometime_, though.

* * *

At Thorin's orders, they came to a stop in front of an old, broken down shelter, held together, it seemed, by a few stray nails, vines trailing through its rotten boards

"Finally!" Karra exclaimed. "Some remnant of civilization! I was beginning to wonder if there even _was _any in this world."

"Any what?" Fili asked.

"Civilization!" she cried.

"I'm going to choose not to take that as an insult," Kili said saucily.

Karra allowed Fili to help her off the pony. She shot Kili a glare before saying, to Fili of course, "I'll watch the ponies with you."

"Because I'm sure it sounds interesting," he replied dryly.

Karra shrugged. "It sounds more interesting than sitting next to that creepy old house all evening."

"Creepy?"

Karra sighed. "You're never going to really learn my language, are you? Creepy….spooky….you know, eerie."

Fili and Kili were now at the task of gathering the ponies. "I wouldn't necessarily consider that house _eerie,_" Fili said over his shoulder. "Old and dilapidated, perhaps, but not eerie."

"I can help!" Karra abruptly changed the subject. This conversation was going nowhere good.

"I'm sure you can." Kili lead a pony past her. "You don't know the difference between a pony and a horse. I'm sure you can."

Karra rolled her eyes. "That was the first day I was with you! You remember that?"

"Oh, of course we do." Fili handed her the reins of his pony. "Here, lead Myrtle over there. And we remember all your other shows of ignorance since then, too," he teased lightly. "There, that should be all of them. Tie her to that tree, Karra," he added, for Karra had been standing, holding the reigns and looking slightly confused.

"Thanks," Karra muttered, attempting to tie a good, solid knot, and somewhat failing. Oh, well, that should be good enough. _And I'm sure that was kind of a show of ignorance, too, _she added silently. She plopped down against a log, and Fili and Kili sat down beside her, one on either side.

"Well," Karra said, "What are we supposed to do now?"

Fili shrugged. "Watch them."

"Thanks, Mr. Obvious!" Karra grinned. "Must be a dwarf thing."

"If it is, then you're a dwarf," he shot back.

Karra tried to look innocent. "Are you saying I state the obvious?" she asked.

"Have I not said that before?"

"Oh, you have?" She knew she was being annoying, and she was thoroughly enjoying it. For once _she _could get on _their _nerves.

"Many times," Kili broke in. "I've heard him."

"Because you listen in on all of our conversations," Karra retorted.

"Unashamedly," he replied, a perfectly serious look on his face.

Karra shook her head. "You're hopeless."

"Hopeless? And what do you mean by that?" Fili asked.

"I'm quite sure you know what that word means. It's not one of those strange words I've added to the language."

"Oh, of course not." Fili smirked. "It means to be without hope. Are you saying that we are without hope?"

"Well, that wasn't what I was saying…..oh, please. You'll just never really understand my 'language.'"

"I don't think I will," said Kili. "You're hopeless."

"I'm assuming that was an example of picking up words by context. And that was the wrong context."

And so it went. Such banter continued for most of the rest of the evening, with occasional breaks for serious conversation, but that was rare. Sometimes it was hard to have a serious conversation with these two. Finally, Karra began to get rather hungry and decided to go back and see whether the others were eating dinner yet.

"Well, bye," she said cheerily, standing up. "I'll leave you two to your boring job while I go have fun eating dinner! Hope someone brings you some!"

"Thanks," Kili said dryly. "I would ask that you bring some, but I'm much too afraid you'd refuse."

Karra shook her head. "Sorry. See you tomorrow!" With that last parting shot, she tripped off in the direction of camp.

It seemed that they had already begun dinner. Karra slid into the circle and got herself a bowl of soup.

"I see you're back," observed Bofur.

"Stating the obvious." Karra rolled her eyes. "And if you want to know, I thought they could do the job well enough without me. And I was getting kind of hungry. So I came back." After a moment, she began to laugh. "I guess that was obvious." Several of the other dwarves chuckled. Karra fell to eating with a relish. Lively conversation with two young dwarves for a couple of hours tended to make one hungry.

For a while, no one talked. Everyone seemed too focused on eating.

Presently Bilbo spoke up. "He's been a long time," he stated.

"Who?" Bofur asked.

"Gandalf," Bilbo answered. Karra glanced around the circle.

"Yeah, where is Gandalf?" she asked.

"He's a wizard! He does what he chooses," Bofur said rather unhelpfully. He handed two bowls of soup to Bilbo. "Here, do us a favor, take this to the lads."

_Well, _Karra thought with a secret grin, _someone is bringing them dinner._

"Will someone tell me where Gandalf went?" Karra asked.

"He left," explained Oin

"Obvious."

"That's all we know," explained Ori. "He said…..well, he wanted to be by himself. I've no notion why."

Glancing Thorin's direction, Karra thought she saw him giving the young dwarf a harsh glare. _Well, he didn't do anything! _she thought.

"Maybe he just wanted to be by himself," she said with a little grin.

Bofur, seeming to pick up on her cue, replied, "That's obvious."

Karra opened her eyes wide. "Oh, was it?" she said innocently.

This time the whole group laughed.

Karra opened her eyes wider. "Oh, was that funny?"

She could only keep it up for a moment, then broke down into laughter. Pretty soon the whole group was laughing.

"I think he left because he wanted to be by himself," chuckled Bofur.

"It's the only logical explanation," laughed Balin.

Nori decided to join in. "I think he left because he didn't think any of us were sensible in any way."

"What?" Karra asked.

"Well," began Ori, "He referred to _himself _as the only one who had any-"

He was interrupted. Fili and Kili suddenly came rushing into the circle around the fire.

"Trolls!" gasped Kili.

"They've stolen the ponies and they have our burglar," Fili said.

"What's a troll?" Karra tried to ask. But almost before she knew what was happening, she heard an order from Thorin, and the entire group was rushing towards the unknown danger.

* * *

_Phew, some action! If you review, I'll give you…..oh, I really need to stop this before I start getting on your nerves. But, I just want to say, every time I get a review (or a fave or a follow, for that matter) it encourages me to keep writing. And the more I keep writing, the longer it will be before I catch up with myself and stop posting so regularly. So yeah, you get the idea. :)_


	7. Chapter 7-Big Ugly Creatures

_**Author's Note: **__Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! :)_

* * *

**Chapter 7-Big Ugly Creatures**

"Defend yourself." Karra heard Fili's voice in her ear as he shoved something into her hand. She clenched her hand around the hilt of the dagger.

"But I don't know how to-" she began, but was interrupted by Fili clapping a hand over her mouth and hissing in her ear, "Get down!"

They crouched down in the bushes. Karra stared at the dagger. What the heck was she supposed to do with the thing? "Fili…" she began, but was interrupted by what sounded like a loud sneeze. She looked up to see three of the ugliest things she had ever seen in her life. And they had Bilbo.

"Are those trolls?" she exclaimed. "Wow….I didn't know anything could be so ugly!"

"Be quiet!" Fili hissed. "We don't want them to hear us!"

"Oh. Right," she whispered. "Umm….sorry." They were now all crouched in the bushes, apparently waiting for the right moment. _Well, come on! _Karra wanted to say. _Do something! They're going to hurt Bilbo!_

"Hold 'is toes over the fire," one of the ugly things growled. "Make him squeal."

Apparently that was the right moment, or Kili seemed to think so. Suddenly he rushed out of the bushes and stabbed the troll in the leg. The thing let out a howl and fell over. "Drop him," Kili said savagely. The troll seemed confused and blubbered something unintelligible.

"I said, drop him," Kili said again, this time even more savagely. The troll hurled Bilbo roughly in Kili's direction, and suddenly, before Karra knew what was happening, everyone was rushing out of the bushes, weapons at the ready. She awkwardly and nervously raised her dagger as she was swept along in the rush of dwarves.

Suddenly they were attacking the huge things. She desperately hacked at anything that came near her, hoping it wasn't a dwarf. One moment she was slashing at a troll's leg, and the next she had to whirl around and slash at another to keep from getting stepped on. She really had no idea what she was doing with the dagger Fili had given her, and felt terribly clumsy, but she didn't really have time to think. She was just trying to survive, not get stepped on, and not kill someone else. She slashed one way and then another. The trolls were impossible to cut with their think skin, but apparently they were easily hurt. Just a poke, though it took a hard one, and they would fall over howling. She began roughly stabbing one troll in the foot repeatedly.

_Stab. Stab. Stab. _The thing howled harder each time. She drew back her dagger for another stab, cursing her thick hair as it flew in her face. At least she could have had the sense to pull it back! Letting her guard down for one moment, she pushed it behind her shoulder.

Only one moment, but it was a fatal mistake. As she desperately brushed her hair out of her face, she didn't notice a troll behind her. She suddenly let out a shriek as it grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up. It felt like her arm was going to come off.

"Well, what 'ave we 'ere?" said the ugly thing, dangling her in front of its face. "This one doesn't look the others, does it Bert?"

"It doesn't," the other thing agreed. "And what would you be?" it asked her.

"I'm….I'm a dwarf!" she faltered. What a silly thing to say! She wasn't a dwarf.

"You don't look like a dwarf," said the troll with its hideous cockney accent. "You're lyin', that's what you're doin'! It's a liar!" it cried to the others.

"No…." taunted the other troll. "It's not a liar. You know what I think? I think it's a….lady."

"A lady!" exclaimed the one holding her. It dropped her and grabbed her, hard, around the waist with its other hand. "Well, ain't that a new one! I ain't never seen a lady dwarf before!"

"What do'ye' think?" asked the other one, Bert, staring at her. "Do'ye' think ladies are tasty?"

"I reckon so," said the one holding her. "Think we should eat her first?"

Karra gulped. _Eat _her?

"Nah, save 'er for last." The one holding her squeezed her hard. "Dessert, you know. She seems nice an' soft."

"Oh….thanks for the complement!" Karra cried. It seemed she still had enough in her to be sarcastic.

"Looks like we got ourselves a _sassy…._" the troll began, only to be apparently interrupted by something, for he let out a great howl and fell backward, dropping Karra roughly to the ground. She looked up to see Fili standing with his dagger at the ready. It suddenly dawned on her that he had just saved her by stabbing the troll in the foot.

"Thanks!" she gasped.

"Anytime," he said, helping her to her feet. Suddenly, with the battle raging all around her, she realized that he had put his arm around her waist as he helped her up.

"Thanks," she muttered again. "…..you saved me….."

"Look out!" Fili shouted, suddenly shoving her out of the way. A split second later, a troll foot slammed down right where she had been standing.

Karra gasped and jabbed the troll in the leg, and was rewarded by a howl. She stabbed it in the foot again, and the thing howled again. Her satisfaction at actually being somewhat successful was ruined by a troll trying to pick her up again. She randomly shoved her sword upwards, and apparently hit something, for he began to jump around holding his hand in pain. Karra had to jump out of the way to keep from getting smashed. She tripped over a rock and fell flat on her back with a cry of pain. As she began to pick herself up, she suddenly realized that everything was quiet.

She slowly stood up and looked around. The dwarves were all looking _up, _and all at the same place. She followed their gaze and caught her breath. The trolls were holding Bilbo by his arms and legs, apparently attempting to stretch him out. "Bilbo!" someone cried.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off," said one of the trolls, obviously pleased with its cleverness with words.

There was a moment of tense silence. Karra looked back and forth between the trolls, Bilbo, and the dwarves. Kili stared defiantly at the trolls, as if willing them to try to take his weapon. Thorin held his sword tightly, and he almost seemed hesitant. Karra gripped the hilt of her dagger. Were they seriously considering letting Bilbo be _killed_?

Finally, Thorin, staring hard at Bilbo, shoved his sword into the ground. The others followed suit, dropping their weapons into a pile. Karra dropped her dagger with a clang onto the top of the pile. The last thing she remembered before being grabbed by a troll was Fili's gentle touch and look that said, _it'll be okay. It really will._

* * *

Being tied up in a bag wasn't too comfortable. It was especially uncomfortable after being tossed around and being roughly patted over by three large, clumsy trolls. And that, of course, was exactly what had happened to Karra. The trolls had tossed her around, squeezed her, pulled her hair, and basically contrived to make every muscle in her body as sore as possible before shoving her in a bag and tying it rather too tightly around her neck. The entire situation was made more uncomfortable by the fact that the three trolls were now calmly, or not so calmly, discussing how to eat them. _And _the fact that she had to watch five dwarves roast slowly over the fire. _That _wasn't pleasant, to say the least. They were to be _sautéed with a sprinkle of sage, _or they were to be _sat on and squashed into jelly, _or any of the many other options the trolls endlessly argued over.

"Oh, get a move on," growled one of them. "We ain't got all night. Dawn ain't far away, and I don't fancy being turned to stone."

Karra's eyes popped open and she stared at the troll. Turned to stone? What if…?

Apparently Bilbo had the same idea, or nearly the same idea. "Wait!" he cried, managing to hop to his feet, the sack still tied around him. "You're making…a terrible mistake!"

"Don't try to reason with these halfwits!" Dori shouted, and Karra could have kicked him.

"I mean…" Bilbo opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "I mean…with the…with the seasoning!"

"The seasoning, eh?" growled one of the monsters.

Bilbo waved a hand over the pile of dwarves behind him. "Have you smelt them?" he blurted out. "You're going to need a lot more than a sprinkle of sage before you plate this lot up!"

"Excuse me?" Karra exclaimed. "We don't smell that bad!" There were grumbles of mostly the same kind from the dwarves around her, and Bilbo closed his eyes and grimaced, a look on his face that clearly said _stupid dwarves. _Karra shut her mouth quickly.

"So you're an expert in cooking dwarf, are ya?" said another troll sarcastically. "Well, go ahead, little expert. Tell us your secret."

"The secret…uh…" Bilbo rocked back and forth in his sack, his face twisted in a desperate attempt to think. "The secret is…" He took another hop forward. "I…"

Karra bit her lip to keep from crying out with anxiety. _Come on, do something! They're going to hurt you!_

"Well? Out with it," the troll said impatiently.

"Uh…"

"Tell us the secret," another growled.

"Y…yes, I'm telling you! The secret is…" Bilbo glanced at the sky, gauging the time before dawn. "I'm telling you!" Karra clenched her fist so hard it hurt. A tiny bit of light seemed to have crept into the sky in these last few minutes. If Bilbo could keep them going for just a little bit longer…

She was about to jump to her feet to help him when he blurted out, "The secret to cooking dwarf is to…skin them first!"

"You…You little hobbit, you!" Karra said with a gasp. "How could you!" Now he had done it! What a stupid mistake! In the light of being _skinned, _she didn't really _care _how awkward the situation was for the poor hobbit. This was a mistake he couldn't reverse! "You dumb hobbit!" she blurted out, and immediately regretted as she saw the pained look on his face.

Shouts and curses erupted from the other dwarves. Some tried to raise their fists from inside their bags. A troll called for his knife, and the words rose over the shouts of the dwarves.

"I say we start with _this one_," said another, reaching for Karra. "I'll bet you ladies are _tasty_!"

"I told you to save her for last!" exclaimed another. "Mebby she's sweet!"

Karra heard a voice in her ear hissing _"Move back". _She crawled backwards readily, and felt someone pushing her underneath him. _Ouch. _She saw a strand of blond hair and realized a moment later that Fili was attempting to hide her. _Thanks…_she wanted to whisper in his ear, but she felt she shouldn't call attention to herself and reverse his attempt entirely. What was this, like, the _third _time he had saved her today? _Must remember to thank him for this…_

"Aw, this is a load o'rubbish!" exclaimed one of the trolls. "I've eaten plenty skins and all. I say we scruff 'em and lose the little expert!" There was a pause, and then he cried, "Well, where'd she go?"

"I told ya to save her for last!" Karra heard, muffled from the pile of dwarves on top of her, a bang, as if the troll had slammed another on the head. "And besides, I want 'er!"

"Go on fightin'," said the third troll, and Karra felt the weight of the pile shift significantly. "I'll take a bit o' raw dwarf over this stupid argument any day. I'll start with this one," he said. "You can 'ave the lady if ya want."

"Not that one!" Bilbo piped up. "He's…infected!"

There was a pause. "What?" the troll blubbered.

"Worms…he's got worms!" Bilbo exclaimed. The weight of the pile shifted again, and Karra's breath was knocked from her lungs. She let out a little squeal. If she didn't get eaten by a troll, she's suffocate! That _had _to have been Bombur.

"In fact, they've all got them," she heard Bilbo saying, even more muffled through the two dwarves that were now piled on top of her. "It's a terrible business, it really is. I wouldn't risk it. I really wouldn't."

_Worms? Couldn't he have picked something else? _Karra grimaced, but recognized how clever Bilbo had been. Apparently, though, the other dwarves didn't, for shouts filled the air once again.

"We don't have parasites!"

"Did he say parasites?"

Karra let out a squeal of anger. Was everyone _dumb_? She shoved her elbow, _hard, _into the dwarf beside her, as best she could, tied up in a bag with two dwarves on top of her.

"What?" Oin exclaimed, and then he seemed to realize, at the same time as everyone else. Karra started it, and soon the air was filled with exclamations of how large their parasites were.

"I've got parasites bigger than my arm!"

"I'm beginning to think of them as my friends, they're so big!"

"Mine are the biggest! I've got huge ones!"

"I've got the biggest, really. In fact, my doctor said it was hopeless, and I'd have to live with them for the rest of my life. So yeah, mine are _gross._"

"We're absolutely riddled!"

"Riddled, badly!"

"I talk to them sometimes."

"Would ya' have us let 'em all go then?" a troll shouted, and the dwarves fell silent.

"Well…" Karra could almost see the flustered look on Bilbo's face.

"You think we don't know what you're up to?" the troll growled. _Yes, as a matter of face, we did think that because you're DUMB! _"The little expert thinks we're fools!" _That's because you are. _There was a roar of anger, and Karra heard the stomping footsteps of a troll approaching the pile once again.

There was a shout, and a flash of light filtered down through the pile and hit Karra in the eyes.

"What was that?" she tried to ask, but was rather smothered by the dwarves on top of her. "What…?" Wait a minute, Gandalf? What was going on?

"Can we eat 'im too?" one of the trolls said dumbly. Suddenly there was a great cracking sound, and the trolls let out howls of agony. Karra desperately tried to worm her way to the top to see what was happened, but then, suddenly, everything was quiet.

"Can someone please get me out from under here?" Karra squeaked.

* * *

_Microsoft Word kept correcting the trolls' grammar, lol. One does not simply try to make trolls have good grammar. :D_

_And….yeah, this was a very challenging chapter to write. Remember what I was saying about writing scenes from the movie? Well, double that, no, triple that, for action sequences from the movie. I have to watch the scene again (again, not that I have any abjection to that, lol!), figure out where Karra would be in them, basically choreograph what she's doing, and then on top of that, it has to be interesting. Well, I hope it was interesting._


	8. Chapter 8-More Orcs, More Wargs

_**Author's Note: **__Ummm….yeah. I have nothing to say about this chapter. But since I'm a bit OCD, I have to put an author's note at the beginning….since I did on all the others….and I must keep up the pattern…anyway. There. I said something. :D_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

"Whew….thanks." Karra stood up and shook herself off. "They really tied that bag way too tight."

"Are you alright?" asked Fili.

"Well, besides being a little sore, yeah, I'm fine." Karra glanced around at the still, silent trolls. "What just happened, anyway?"

"Gandalf just turned the trolls to stone. As you can probably see." Karra was almost relieved to see his grin. Things were back to normal. Normal! Whatever normal _was _in this world.

"No, as a matter of fact, I didn't see it," she shot back. "Because I had two dwarves on top of me. It was kind of smothering."

Fili raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that I was trying to keep you from being eaten by the trolls."

Karra flushed. "Oh, I didn't mean like that. Really, thanks for that. But then they had to drop Bombur on top of me. That kind of hurt, you know."

"It hurt you? _I _was on top!"

"Oh….yeah, sorry." Karra shook her head. "Really, thanks. I think he would have just dropped me in his mouth without even thinking." She stopped short as the realization of what she was saying hit her. "Ummm…." she said awkwardly. "You….yeah….you saved me."

"What else could I do? I couldn't let you get eaten."

Karra sighed. A sudden weariness flooded over her. "I've never been in….anything like that before. And I had no idea what to do with the dagger thing you gave me."

Fili looked at her in surprise. "You didn't?"

"No. I was just kind of wildly swinging it wherever I could. You're lucky I didn't accidentally cut someone's head off."

Fili shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder who you are," he said thoughtfully. "You journeyed from a far-away land without ever using a weapon. How is that possible?"

"I….I'm not sure. I guess….I guess I'm just lucky?"

But Karra was spared from having to explain more when Gloin walked over and tapped Fili on the shoulder. "There's a cave nearby," he said. "And where a troll cave is, there's bound to be treasure."

"A troll cave?" Karra exclaimed, ignoring the treasure part. "Well that sounds nice. Nice and dirty and nasty." All the same, she followed Fili and Gloin as they followed after the others in the search for the inevitable cave.

The large yawning opening was not easy to miss. As they entered it, Karra found that it smelled worse than anything they had encountered yet. In fact, it smelled worse than the trolls' stew, and _that _hadn't smelled good _at all, _to say the least. Karra nearly gagged, as did some of the others.

"Ew…it smells _gross _in here," she muttered.

"What's that horrible _stench_?" exclaimed Nori.

"It's a troll hoard," Gandalf explained.

"Well, I guessed that!" Karra exclaimed. "Boy, everyone here always states the obvious." Gandalf shot a look in her direction and continued,

"Be careful what you touch."

"What, do trolls poison things or something?" Karra asked. She didn't receive an answer. She was soon _(somewhat)_ distracted from the smell by the piles of interesting objects that the trolls had apparently stolen. Besides piles of gold, there were other things. She noticed a small necklace that looked somewhat familiar and leaned down to pick it up. Examining it carefully, she realized that it was almost exactly like a necklace her mom used to have. Hmm, strange. Must be some sort of coincidence. Dusting it off, she fastened it around her neck, slipping it under her shirt with the key, and made a mental note to ask someone about it. As she headed back towards the opening, ready to get out of the bad-smelling place, she tripped over something and was sent nearly sprawling to the ground.

Picking herself up, she looked to see what had tripped her. Digging around in the pile of gold coins with her foot, she noticed what looked to be a sword sheath. A little excitedly, though she wasn't sure why, she dropped to her knees again and began to dig around in the gold, attempting to unearth the short sword. She pulled it out and stared at it. It was pretty much encased in spider webs and dirt, and kind of gross looking until she pulled it out of the sheath.

She caught her breath and ran her fingers along the flat of the blade. The cool metal gleamed with its own light, it seemed. There was a design of leaves curling up the blade, and on the sheath, too, she realized as she wiped it off.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

The moment was interrupted by Thorin's voice calling for them to leave. Karra reluctantly slipped the sword back into its sheath, and, still carrying it, followed the others out of the cave. The fresh air reminded her once again of how stinky it had been in there.

Karra immediately searched out Fili. Pulling the sword out of its sheath, she showed it to him. "Look what I found," she said excitedly.

Fili stared at it. "That is a superior blade," he said thoughtfully. "You found it in the troll hoard?"

Karra nodded. "Yes. It….it might be a good idea for me to know how to use it."

Fili's reply was cut short by a shout of "Something's coming!"

"Stay together!" called Gandalf. "Hurry now! Arm yourselves!"

"Exactly what I was saying," hissed Karra to Fili, shoving the sword back into the sheath as she followed the group of dwarves who were now running. There was a crashing in the underbrush as whoever, or whatever, it was, approached.

"Well, they're certainly not trying to be sneaky," Karra muttered. Realizing she should probably have her sword at the ready, she pulled it out and held it clumsily in front of her.

She heard a voice shouting something about _fire and murder!_ And presently, the shouter came into view. A ragged old man on a sleigh pulled by….Karra peeked around several of the dwarves and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt to see better. Were those _rabbits_? If they were, they were certainly the largest ones she had ever seen.

"Who in Middle-Earth is that?" Karra said. "Who….who has a sleigh pulled by….rabbits?"

Fili put a finger to his lips. "I wouldn't draw attention to us."

"Radagast!" Gandalf cried as the sled pulled to a stop, the driver panting and looking around, his eyes wild.

"He seems rather exited," Karra whispered.

"Stop stating the obvious." This time Fili smiled. Karra giggled.

"Whatever. What are they talking about?"

"Oh, just give me a minute," Radagast the bunny man was saying. "Oh….I had a thought…and then I lost it. It was right there. On the tip of my tongue!" Karra stifled another giggle as he stuck out his tongue and stared at it with crossed eyes. Whoever this was, he was certainly very odd!

"Oh, it's not a thought at all!" he exclaimed. "It's just a silly old…stick insect!" Gandalf reached out and pulled a stick bug off his tongue. Karra made a face at Fili.

"Well, that was gross."

After that, Gandalf and the odd bunny person headed off somewhere to talk about something. What they were talking about, Karra never found out, for a couple of moments later, she heard a howl.

"Was that a wolf?" Bilbo asked nervously. "Are…are there wolves out there?"

Bofur stepped forward and stared in the direction of the howl. "Wolves?" he said. "No, that is not a wolf." There was no teasing or trying to scare here. He was worried, plain and simple.

Suddenly there was a crash in the underbrush. All head swiveled towards the giant warg that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. With a snarl, the horrible thing leaped down on the company. Karra tried to jump out of its way. She was too late. Fangs snarled in her face as the warg knocked her down, blowing its odious breath down her neck. She nearly gagged, at the same time trying to crawl out of the way. Suddenly it rolled onto its side; Karra looked up to see Thorin yanking his sword out of the warg's side. Gasping, Karra tried to get back to her feet. There was another snarl and another warg fell down on top of the company, pierced by Kili's arrow. Thorin quickly finished it off.

"Warg scouts!" he exclaimed, pulling his now-bloodied sword out of the warg's heart. "Which means an orc-pack is not far behind!"

"Orc-pack," Bilbo said nervously.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" cried Gandalf, stepping forward and giving Thorin a probing look.

"No one," Thorin replied, though with what Karra thought was a glance in her direction. She flushed, realizing that _she _wasn't _kin._

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf practically shouted.

"No one, I swear!" Thorin cried. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"We're being hunted," Gandalf explained.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin said urgently. Karra was a bit too nervous to make a 'stating the obvious' comment.

"We can't!" exclaimed Ori, appearing at the top of the crag. "We have no ponies! They bolted!"

"I'll draw them off!" Radagast offered determinedly. Why, Karra had nearly forgotten about Radagast!

"These are Gundabad wargs!" cried Gandalf; and he actually seemed concerned for Radagast's safety. "They will outrun you."

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," replied Radagast even more determinedly. "I'd like to see them try."

And with that, he was off. "Wow, those bunnies sure can run!" exclaimed Karra as the sledge flew off through the trees. Gandalf summoned the company with a 'come on!' and took off running, out of the forest. Once out in the field, they stopped rather suddenly and crouched behind a rock. Karra felt an involuntary shudder run thought her as she watched the wargs run by, chasing after the wizard, who seemed to be having way too much fun. Those warg things were _ugly_!

"Stay together," Gandalf ordered, leading them out from behind the rock. They ran around and over more rocks until Karra was sure that she was going to slip on one and break her ankle. Gandalf gathered them together again behind a rock, motioning them to keep going. "Come on, quick!" They ran and ran, sneaking behind large rocks and around large rocks.

They finally stopped for a moment, huddling behind a rock again. Karra leaned back against the large stone, catching her breath. _Why_ did she have to be so _unfit_? She was going to be a complete tired sweaty mess by the end of this. Whatever the end of this turned out to be. She swiped her hand across her forehead and pushed her thick hair behind her shoulder, wondering once again why she hadn't had the sense to pull her hair back last night.

They heard a growl above them, and Karra realized with horror that there was a warg, and possibly an orc, standing on the rock they were hiding behind. She clutched the hilt of her short sword, which she had somehow managed to keep a hold on, and wondered what she would do if it came to a confrontation. Probably get herself killed.

Without warning, Kili suddenly stepped out and readied and arrow. With a twang of the bow string, the warg and orc came tumbling down on top of them. A couple of the dwarves finished them off quickly. Transfixed by how horrible it was, Karra hardly noticed what else was happening around them. She suddenly heard a great howling, and felt herself being pulled along. Grabbing her arm, Fili hissed in her ear, "Come on!"

And then they were running again. Karra tripped over a rock and sprawled to the ground, only to be pulled rather roughly to her feet, and pretty much yanked along with the company. She grabbed her sword again at the last moment, and kept a firm hold on it, wishing she had a belt or something to stick it in. Her head pounded and she was pretty sure her boots were slipping off. And rocks were everywhere. If she twisted her ankle…..! Suddenly the whole company came to a stop again. There seemed to be orcs and wargs on all sides. Karra, without even thinking, began to pull her sword out.

"There's more coming!" Kili shouted, pulling out his bow. Readying an arrow, he let it loose and an orc fell.

"We're surrounded!" Fili cried, both of his swords at the ready. Karra clutched the hilt of her own, as if to defend herself, though she knew she couldn't. Through shooting wargs and their riders, Kili suddenly exclaimed,

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us!" cried Dwalin. The warg and its orc rider approached. The dwarves formed a circle of sorts. Karra noticed that she was in the middle. Then she noticed that Fili was near her, his swords at the ready. He glanced her direction. She realized that he was ready to defend her to the last. This was the fourth time that day that he had saved her, or was trying to. _Must remember to thank him for this…again…._

"This way, you fools!" Gandalf suddenly shouted, popping up from behind a rock. Before Karra had time to be startled, she found herself being pulled along again. Suddenly they were sliding down into a cave.

They all just stood there for a moment. They heard the growls of orcs outside the cave entrance. They were coming closer. And then….

A horn sounded, and there were shouts and growls outside the entrance. Karra strained to see what was happening. Suddenly something came tumbling down into the cave—right in front of them.

When she realized it was an orc, Karra's stomach began to churn. And she had thought they were ugly from farther away! She backed away and turned around to keep from staring at the horrible thing.

"I didn't really want to see that," she muttered. But she turned around just in time to see Thorin examining an arrow he had pulled out of the corpse.

"Elves," he said spitefully, dropping it with disgust on the ground.

"Elves?" Karra asked confusedly. "You mean….little Santa's helper pixie things?" The dwarf standing beside her gave her a strange look. No one else responded. One of the dwarves seemed to notice something, and the others turned the direction he was looking. A path led into the rock.

"I cannot see where this pathway leads," Dwalin observed. "Do we follow it or no?"

"Follow it of course!" said Bofur eagerly.

"I think that would be wise," Gandalf said.

Karra followed the others a bit apprehensively. Of course, they were heading away from the orcs, and that was _very good, _but where were they going? What if they were walking into a trap or something?

As the followed the narrow path, Karra felt weariness flooding over her. She realized that she hadn't slept at all last night and had spent nearly the whole morning running. Her feet were sore, and, in fact, every bit of her body was sore. It didn't help that the tunnel kept growing narrower until they had to squeeze through it. She also got a nasty bruise on her arm from stumbling over her own feet and tripping into the wall. She slid to the ground with a gasp, and was just attempting to pick herself up when Fili appeared at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Alright?" she snapped. "Of course not! I just spent the whole night trying not to get eaten and the whole morning running. Of course I'm not alright! Do you think…" her voice suddenly trailed off. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'm crabby."

He nodded. "I know," he said. "You're tired."

Karra couldn't even find it in her to make an 'obvious' comment. Instead her shoulders slumped and she put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry," she said again. Fili gently helped her to her feet. Karra noticed once again that he had his arm about her waist. "Thanks," she mumbled.

They walked on for a little while longer in silence. Karra tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. She found herself limping and she was pretty sure she had gotten blisters on her heels. She began to walk slower and slower until, just as she thought she could go on no longer, the rounded a bend and came out of the tunnel.

Karra stared in wonder and surprise at the scene before her. Before them lay a beautiful valley. Houses rose out of the cliffs, and waterfalls fell amongst them with the sound of tinkling water. Sunlight touched everything with an afternoon glow, making the scene even more awe-inspiring.

"The valley of Imladris," Gandalf said. "In the common tongue it's known by another name."

"Rivendell," Bilbo said softly.

* * *

_Well….another one of those movie sequences. How'd I do? Was it interesting?! :P_


	9. Chapter 9-Rivendell Day One

_**Author's Note: **__Yes, I skipped Thorin's whole 'this was your plan all along' thing. I was just getting tired of writing _every _scene from the movie, and this seemed like a good place to start the chapter, so I just decided not to write that scene. _

* * *

**Chapter 9-Rivendell Day One**

As they walked down into Rivendell, Karra felt much of her exhaustion melt away. The place was beautiful, if a bit, well, expansive and open for her tastes. She still didn't quite understand the elf thing, but apparently whatever the elves were, the built pretty homes. Bilbo seemed to agree, as he stared about in awe of the place.

They walked across a little stone bridge onto some sort of platform thing. As they stood there just looking about them, a very tall, slim person approached, coming down some steps, and began to speak to Gandalf.

"Is _that _an elf?" Karra whispered to Bofur, who happened to be standing closest to her.

Bofur nodded. "Aye, lass."

"Wow….they're….different than I expected."

"What did you expect them to be?" he asked.

Karra shook her head. "You….wouldn't understand," she said, flushing slightly at the realization of how very _different _elves were from her imagining.

As Gandalf and the elf conversed, presumably about their lodgings here or something, Karra took the moment to look around her a bit more. Everything here was _tall. _She had to admit, as pretty and awe-inspiring as it was, she rather understood the dwarves' discomfort. She felt like she was standing at the bottom of a huge skyscraper looking up trying to see the top. The place was overwhelming. Apparently elves, whatever they were, didn't have a problem with heights.

Suddenly a horn sounded in the near distance. It sounded oddly familiar, but before Karra had time to think, the dwarves were forming a tight circle with their weapons drawn.

"What's happening?" she cried as she was pushed to the center. "I thought this was a _friendly_ place!" Almost without thinking, she drew her own dagger. Whatever happened, she could at least _try _to defend herself.

An armored horseman rode around the corner, followed by a long line of others much the same. Karra gazed upward in surprise. Everything really was tall here! She felt rather insignificant next to these grand warriors. She clutched her sword hilt a little tighter as the elves formed a circle around the company. For a moment, there was tenseness in the air. And then one of the elves rode forward and greeted Gandalf.

Karra let her hold on the dagger relax a bit. If they knew Gandalf…..what was he saying? She strained her ears to hear. The words sounded strange. "What?" she muttered. The man (or _elf, _as she supposed he was) slid off his horse, and rather surprisingly, _hugged _Gandalf. Well, she hadn't expected that from one of these tall slim elegant people!

"Strange for orcs to come so near our borders," the elf said. "Something, or _someone, _has drawn them near."

Gandalf gave a little smile. "Ah, that may have been us."

The company's circle had dissipated slightly, and Thorin stepped forward, rather proudly. There were times when he really did look like a king, even when he was looking _up _at an elf who was probably three feet taller than him.

"Welcome, Thorin, son of Thrain," the tall person—Karra had heard the name Elrond or something like that?—greeted him.

"I do not believe we have met," Thorin said grudgingly.

"You have your grandfather's bearing." Elrond nodded. "I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain."

"He doesn't look that old!" Karra whispered to the dwarf closest to her.

"Elves are immortal," Balin explained. "You did not know that?"

"Immortal?" Karra exclaimed, a little louder than she would have liked. Thankfully, while some of the dwarves turned her direction, no one else seemed to notice.

Thorin was facing Elrond proudly. "Indeed," he said loftily. "He made no mention of _you._" Karra gasped a little. Well, that was rude. There went any hope of lodgings here for the night.

Surprisingly, Elrond didn't seem to mind. He turned to the company and began to say something, though no one was sure what. It was obvious he was speaking in another language. Karra wondered for one horrible moment if he was trying to put a spell on them or something. But then he was done speaking, and nothing terrible happened. She glanced around at the others uncomfortably.

Gloin stepped forward, axe raised threateningly. "What is he saying?" he growled. "Does he offer us insult?"

"No, Master Gloin," Gandalf said with a slight smile. "He is offering you _food._"

Everyone looked at each other. Karra suddenly realized that she was very hungry. "I say we take his offer," said one.

"I agree," Karra said emphatically. "I'm starving."

After a moment of discussion, Gloin stepped forward. "Ah, well, in that case, lead on," he said gruffly. The company followed the elf away.

* * *

It felt very good to sit down. The elves served them dinner, and that felt good too. But apparently, the dwarves were picky.

"I don't like green food," Ori complained. Dwalin rummaged around in his bowl _(do dwarves ever learn table manners, Karra thought) _and grumbled, "Where's the meat?"

"Have they got any chips?" Ori asked disgustedly.

"Come _on, _guys," Karra said in exasperation. "It's food! How would you have liked not having any dinner at all?!" A couple of dwarves just looked at her and continued picking rather unwillingly at their food. Karra had to admit, she would have preferred a bit more substantial meal herself, but as hungry as she was, anything tasted good right now. She ate what was given to her with a relish. Glancing Bilbo's direction, she decided he felt the same way. Although, it was a little disconcerting, having the elves watching them eat. And the music was a little too….mellow, somehow.

"What is it you have against elves, anyway?" she asked Gloin rather quietly. Just as he was about to answer, Gandalf, Elrond, Thorin, and the elf that had greeted them walked in and joined them at their meal.

Karra glanced over at Kili, who was sitting beside her, just in time to see him tossing a wink to the elven girl playing the harp. She kind of wanted to jab her elbow into his side, but giggled instead. Of course, Kili was a flirt. The way he has stared at her that first day when she was combing out her hair…some comments he had made, to her…..yes, he was definitely a flirt. She giggled again.

Dwalin took care of the jabbing-an-elbow-into-his-side thing with a harsh glare. Kili's grin faded slowly, and he tried to defend himself. "Can't say I fancy elf-maids myself," he said casually. "Too thin. They're all high cheekbones and creamy skin; not enough facial hair for me." Karra grinned and rubbed her hand over her cheek where, supposedly, a dwarf woman would have had a beard. Kili ignored her and glanced up again. "Although…." He continued with a coy grin, "That one there's not bad."

"That's not an elf maid," Dwalin said gruffly.

The elf turned slowly. Karra giggled again, and then began to laugh, when she realized that Kili had just tried to flirt with an elven man. Soon everyone was laughing uproariously. Karra now jabbed her elbow into Kili's side and said with a laugh, "Nice try, but your flirting's going to get you in trouble someday." He glared at her and took a rather large drink from the glass that was sitting in front of him. Karra took a sip of her own and made a face.

"What is this?" she asked, still holding the cup. "I've never tasted anything like it before."

"Premium elvish wine," Bofur replied, glancing into his own glass.

"Really." Karra quickly set the glass back down on the table. "Is it….strong?"

"Yes….very." Bofur took a large swig of his own.

"I see." Karra fell to eating again. She had never drank beer or wine in her life, and she didn't really want to start now. And….she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to feel its effects, whatever those may be.

She glanced up the long table to see Elrond and Gandalf examining the swords from the troll hoard. "This is Orcrist, the Goblin-Cleaver," Elrond was saying, handing the sword to Thorin. "A famous blade, forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well."

_High elves? _Karra thought. _What does he mean by that? _She pulled out her own sword for a moment and stared at it before slipping it back into its sheath. Nah….it wouldn't be anything special.

"Change to tune, why don't you?" called Nori to the harp player, interrupting Karra's thoughts. "I feel like I'm at a funeral!"

"Did somebody die?" exclaimed Oin, holding his ear trumpet, which was stuffed full of a napkin, up to his ear.

"Alright lads," said Bofur, standing up, "there's only one thing for it!" And, quite to Karra's surprise, he actually climbed up onto a little table thing and began to sing.

"There was an inn, a merry old in, beneath the old grey hill…." Here he stopped with a grin and held out his hand as if to say, _come on everybody, sing it with me. _Everyone began to clap as Bofur continued, "…..and there they brew a beer so brown that man in the moon himself came down one night to drink his fill….." Karra giggled and followed along, glancing once or twice at the confused faces of the elves.

Before she knew what was happening, someone had thrown a piece of food at Bofur. A moment later, everyone was picking up pieces and tossing them every direction. "Come on, Karra," Kili said, jabbing his elbow into her side _(retribution….)_,and giving a hearty toss of a piece of lettuce.

Karra just glared at him. If everyone else was going to be horribly rude, at least she wouldn't. Clapping and singing was fun….but not throwing food. Just, no.

But then Kili pitched a piece of lettuce at her face.

Karra couldn't help herself. Picking up a piece of her own, she threw it right back in _his _face. Just once. Just for retribution. He picked up a handful and dumped it in her hair. She bit her lip.

"You're asking for a bowl of salad dumped over your head," she said threateningly.

"You wouldn't dare," he said saucily.

Karra just flipped her hair over her shoulder and began to clap again, 'accidentally' knocking part of the contents of her bowl off into his lap. Okay, _now _she was being rude….but it was oddly fun.

And then the song was over. The dwarves cheered, tossing bowls of salad in the air like confetti. Bofur gave a modest bow, as if saying, _I know…I know…you don't need to tell me how great I am. _Kili gave one last toss, almost hitting an elf in the face. Karra burst out laughing at the elf's flabbergasted expression. She flushed when everyone at her table stared at her.

"Nothing," she mumbled, hastily gathering up her mess, swiping lettuce out of her hair, and taking a sip of the elvish wine. It was dawning on her what the elves must think of them….but she wanted to burst out laughing every time she thought of that elf's face when the food hit the statue right beside him.

She was almost relieved when she saw that apparently the dwarves considered the meal finished and were getting up. She quickly caught up to Fili as they walked away.

"So…..how long do you think we'll stay here?" she asked casually, somewhat expecting an answer of _oh, about a week, _or something like that.

"Maybe one night," he replied. "Or perhaps more. At any rate, I think we are all anxious to keep going."

Karra was a bit surprised. "One night? But I thought this was a place to stop and get a good rest! I….I thought we would stay here a little longer than _one night._"

"As I said, we are all anxious to keep going." Fili shrugged. "And….I can't say I'm too eager to stay here much longer."

Karra shook her head. "I, for one, wouldn't mind staying here for a while. It seems like a good place to rest and….recover from the journey."

"I suppose," said Fili, "it is rather….peaceful."

"You don't like peaceful?"

"Well…."

"Whatever. I think I'm going to take the opportunity to explore the place a little. You?"

Fili glanced around a little uncomfortably. "You can explore as you wish."

Karra sighed. "I don't think I quite understand why you hate elves."

"We don't _hate _the elves," he protested. "We simply don't quite _trust _them. And….we have our differences."

"They seem pretty trustworthy to me."

"You have only known of them for one day."

"You got me there." Karra shrugged. "Whatever. Do what you want; I'm exploring when I get the chance."

* * *

"Whoa…." Karra stared around the chamber and back to the elf that had shown her there. "I…I get my own room?"

"Would you rather sleep with the rest of your company?" the elf maid asked gently.

Karra thought a moment. "Well…..now that I think about it….I guess it's nice to have my own room for once. And…." She looked around her again, "this is pretty nice! So, yeah, I'll keep it." She flashed a smile at the elven girl, who smiled back. Well, this elf seemed fairly accepting of Karra, even if she was kind of…different. She had gotten several stares and comments made about 'a dwarf woman' and things like that. They had only been here a couple of hours and she was _sick of it. _But the elf girl who had shown her to her chamber seemed relatively friendly. Not that the other elves weren't, but…..oh well…..it was really nice to have a real bed for once in the last couple of months.

As Karra plopped down on the comfortable looking bed, she realized how dirty she was. Everything in this chamber was nearly sparkling, and she suddenly felt _grimy. _"Hey!" she called at the retreating elf's back. She turned, all nice and graceful and darn _elven _looking, and Karra felt a little clumsy, sitting on the large bed with her legs dangling over the edge.

"Yes?" the elf replied.

"Where….where are your baths?" Karra asked, still feeling rather awkward. This wasn't supposed the _awkward, _for goodness sakes, she was talking to another _girl! _But still, she flushed slightly, realizing that the fact that she was asking about baths called attention to her messiness.

"I will show you," the elf said, motioning for Karra to follow her. Karra slid off the bed, rather clumsily, _again_, and followed the elven girl, pretty much taking two strides for every one stride of the elf's. She was out of breath pretty soon, but didn't really want to ask her to slow down, so she trotted along behind her, lagging a bit. They reached the baths soon enough, certainly soon enough for Karra. After a night of fighting trolls and a morning of fleeing orcs, she didn't want any more running to keep up with elves than was strictly necessary.

"These are our bathhouses," the girl explained, rather unnecessarily, Karra thought. But all the same, she flashed a grin at her and said, "Thanks." And then, after a slight pause, "What may I call you?"

The elf smiled back at her. "You may call me Alassiel," she replied.

"Alassiel," Karra fingered the name on her tongue. "That's pretty."

"Thank you," the elf replied with another smile. "You are able to find you way back to your chamber?"

Karra hesitated for a moment, wondering if she actually could. But her pride got the better of her and she replied, "Yeah, I can." The elf nodded, turned and walked away, leaving Karra to her bath. Karra waved after her, calling, "Bye….Alassiel." She then turned and walked into one of the bath chambers.

As she closed the door behind her, she reflected that a year ago, she wouldn't have had any particular reason to be excited about a bath. _It's amazing what you take advantage of sometimes, _she thought. She realized with a start that the elves actually had _running water. _Wow….she didn't even think such technology was possible in this place!

It felt _very _good to slip into the water. But what felt even better was actually using _soap. _With all the times she had bathed in streams, she hadn't had a chance to use _soap. _For the first time in _forever, _she actually felt _really _clean. And shampoo! Who would have dreamed that the elves actually _needed _shampoo? But there it was, and her hair felt deliciously clean afterwards.

After a good deal of lingering in the bath, Karra finally stepped out, let the water out, and slipped her clothes back on. They were still dirty, but she was _clean! _Karra felt that she was inordinately giddy over that fact.

Looking in the mirror gave her a bit of a surprise. Her hair, which she had usually kept to about shoulder length, had grown so that it fell to nearly mid back. It was also a bit redder than the auburn-almost-red that she had remembered it being. Perhaps being in the sun nearly constantly for a couple of months had lightened it. And, if possible, it was even _thicker _than it used to be, frizzing around her face in a large, rather tangled mass. It was nice to have a comb again, rather than just having to run her fingers through her hair. However, attempting to actually _comb _her hair took longer than she expected. When she was finally done with _that _task, she felt like she should do something with her hair, so she pulled a large section into a thick braid down the back. Finally feeling finished, she stepped out of the bath chamber into the sun outside.

She sauntered in the direction of her chamber, hoping she didn't look lost. As a matter of fact, she kind of hoped she _wasn't _lost. It was this way, wasn't it? Ummm…

Whatever. Maybe she'd just try to find the dwarves. She could find her chamber closer to bedtime. Couldn't she. She could. Of course she could. Laughing and trying to convince herself that she _wasn't _lost, she headed off in the direction she thought she needed to go to find the dwarves.

Suddenly she felt a presence behind her. Oh, no, another elf? She turned quickly and found herself face to face with….Fili.

"Oh….hi," she stammered. "I….I thought you were an elf."

Fili grinned at her. "Well, there's no mistaking _you_ for an elf." Karra thought she sensed and odd sort of admiration in his voice. She stared at him for a moment before replying, "Was that supposed to be a complement?"

"Oh, of course," he said. He seemed to notice her running a finger awkwardly through her hair, for he asked lightly, "What did you do with your hair?"

"I washed it," she replied dryly. "Is that such an odd thing to do?"

"Not at all."

Karra began to feel a little irritated at his light, almost careless, tone. "It might be a good thing for you to do, yourself," she retorted. The sudden thought hit her that she would like to see what he looked like with his hair nicely cleaned and combed and maybe she could help put those braids back in after he'd washed it. That would be fun. She pushed the thought away a little embarrassedly. Where had that come from?

Fili seemed to sense her awkwardness. He gently looped his arm through hers and said, not lightly this time, but kindly, "I'll walk you back to our quarters."

Karra sighed with relief. Maybe he knew where he was going.

* * *

_Kudos to you if you caught the Frozen reference! I'm only slightly less obsessed with that movie than I am with the Hobbit, lol._

_Review? If you review….oh, yeah, if you review, I'll give you Elrond. Yes, I'm starting this again. :D_


	10. Chapter 10-Dwarven Shenanigans

_**Author's Note: **__I started writing the first part of this chapter without any plan for where it was going and….this happened. XD_

* * *

**Chapter 10-Dwarven Shenanigans**

Karra opened her eyes slowly and looked around her. Something seemed oddly different about this…this wasn't what she was used to. The bed she was lying on was quite comfortable. She rolled over and sighed. She wasn't quite ready to get up.

Wait a minute…..she was lying on a bed? How was she not sleeping on the ground like she had for the last couple of months? Suddenly it all came back to her. They were at Rivendell….the home of the elves. She sighed and buried herself deeper in the blankets. If they were only going to be here for a couple of days, she might as well get as much sleep as she could.

* * *

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"What is it?" Karra grumbled, opening her eyes with a groan.

_Knock. Knock. _"Karra!" she heard a voice exclaim.

"Just one more minute," she mumbled, rolling over and burying her face in the comfortable pillow.

"Karra! I came to wake you up. The elves are having the morning meal and I didn't think you'd want to miss it."

"What….Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "I'm coming!" She slid out of bed, practically jumping to the ground—these beds obviously weren't made for short people—smoothed her rumbled clothes, ran her fingers through her hair—entirely forgetting that she actually had a comb and a mirror at her disposal—and headed out the door, running right smack into Kili, who was standing outside waiting for her.

"Oh….hi….good morning….sorry," she fumbled, trying to fit her apologies and morning greetings into one sentence and failing. "Where are we going?"

"To breakfast, of course." Kili led her in the direction of what she presumed to be breakfast. That, or he was playing some dirty trick on her. She wouldn't put that past him.

Presently, to her relief, they came upon a long table of elves and the rest of the dwarves. Apparently she _had _slept in…..breakfast had already been served, and some were almost finished. Hoping against hope that no one teased her about how late she was, she slid into a seat in between Bofur and Kili. She would have picked a different one, but there wasn't one available beside Fi—anyone else. _Great. _This was going to be interesting.

"Well, here's the sleepy lass!" Bofur announced loudly as she sat down. "Are you awake now, Karra?"

"Not really, but there's a right way to wake me up and a wrong way to wake me up, and announcing to the whole world that I slept in late is the wrong way," she retorted. She sighed as she looked at the food in front of her…..more vegetables…..all healthy. Oh well. Maybe this meal wouldn't be as….eventful….as yesterday's.

Fortunately, it wasn't. But it was still quite obvious that the dwarves didn't quite fit in here. After finishing his meal, Gloin of them let out a loud burp, quite horrifying the elves. Karra caught Nori slipping something into the pocket of his tunic. Dori complained about the greens. The dwarves' conversation turned a bit rowdy. And worst of all, Karra managed to knock her glass over—straight into Bofur's lap.

"Oh….I'm sorry!" she cried, then remembered dumping her bowl onto Kili's lap yesterday and began to giggle.

"I've had worse things on these clothes than elvish drink," Bofur replied with a grin. A moment later, though, he 'accidentally' dumped his glass over—straight into _Karra's _lap.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. But then she grinned. "Oh, you….we are not starting that again." Bofur began to laugh, and then Kili started laughing, and pretty soon the whole table—well, the whole table minus the elves—was laughing uproariously.

Karra shook her head. "I'm done with my breakfast anyway," she said firmly, slamming her bowl down on the table, and managing to spill the salad in the process. Laughing a little and gathering her mess up into one place, she slid off the chair, which was obviously not built for dwarves or people of dwarven size _either_. Half of her felt like she would be glad to get out of here; the other half felt like she would never get tired of giggling at the elves' strange looks at them.

Apparently the rest of the company was finished, too, for soon everyone began to drift off. Karra found herself walking beside Kili, much to her annoyance.

"Hi," she said, trying to sound stiff, and failing. It was obvious that Kili was trying to hold his laughter back. "What?!" she exclaimed. Glancing down at herself, she too began to laugh. "My pants are completely soaked. That looks bad, doesn't it."

Kili looked rather shocked. "Well….." he said, "I wasn't thinking of _that._"

"Then what were you laughing about?"

"The look on your face when Bofur…." He began to laugh again.

"Alright, alright." Karra rolled her eyes. "I'll dump my glass on _you _next time." Suddenly she noticed they were walking by a fountain, and a mischievous grin grew on her face. She stopped walking for a moment, and as soon as Kili had walked past her, she reached down and splashed some water at his back. He turned around and stared at her for a moment, and then, with an equally mischievous grin, splashed some water right back at her. Her eyes narrowed, and she scooped up a handful of water and practically threw it at his face. Almost before she had time to duck, he was throwing water right back at her. Pretty soon, they were in the middle of a regular water fight, throwing water at each other as fast as they could.

Suddenly Karra thought she heard a step behind her. She stopped quickly and looked behind her.

"What is it?" Kili asked, stopping in mid-splash.

"An elf," Karra hissed. "Quick, get behind the fountain!"

Kili wrinkled his brow. "Why?"

"Do you want an _elf _to see us like _this_?" she asked, gesturing to her dripping clothes. "They'll think we're the weirdest things ever." She pulled him by the hand and they ducked behind the fountain just as the elf walked by. Suddenly Karra had the almost irresistible urge to jump out and yell _Boo!, _just to see if she could make the elf drop some of his graceful decorum. She put her hand over her mouth to stop the giggles, and glanced over at…..

Wait a minute, where was Kili? He was supposed to be right beside her…..

"Up here!" Karra looked up to see that Kili had actually climbed the fountain, which was in the shape of a woman pouring water, and was now sitting on her hair. "That elf was rather surprised to find a dwarf sitting on his fountain." Kili raised an eyebrow and gave Karra a lopsided mischievous grin.

"Hey, you!" Karra exclaimed. "Get down here!" But instead of coming down, he simply reached a hand towards her, and Karra rather suddenly found herself sitting on top of fountain with him.

"Hey," she said with a shrug, "the view's pretty nice up here!"

"Isn't it?" Kili gave her a smile and raised an eyebrow in a way that could only be described as flirting. Oh, no, not _that _again.

"Kili…." she began, exasperated, but Fili chose that unfortunate moment to walk by.

"Kili!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing…..and Karra! What are you doing up _there_?!"

"Wanted to see what the view looked like from up higher," Karra said awkwardly.

"I see. Well, I suggest you get down before someone sees you."

"Oh, someone already has," Karra said dryly. "At least, the elf saw _your brother._ I had sense enough not to climb up here until he _pulled _me up—Hey!" she suddenly exclaimed, for Kili had given her a nudge that threw off her balance, and before she knew what was happening, she found herself sliding down right….into….the….fountain.

She came up spluttering and completely soaked. "This—was—all—your—fault!" she exclaimed, shaking her fist at Kili. "And _don't _laugh," she exclaimed, turning to Fili. "It's not funny!"

The corners of his mouth twitching, Fili offered her his hand. "Would you like me to help you out of there?" he asked, the amusement in his voice barely concealed.

"No thank you," she said stiffly, standing up and stepping out. A small puddle began to form at her feet. Still trying to stand on her dignity, she looked up at Kili and said firmly, "You are coming down here this minute—the same way I did."

"No, thank you," Kili said lightly, sliding down the back of the fountain. "I'd rather not do it the way _you _did."

"I'd suggest you go get dried off," Fili said with a huge grin on his face.

Karra just glared at him.

* * *

Karra slowly wandered the stately halls of Rivendell. The setting sun hit everything with an early evening light, making it glow. She sighed. She could stay here forever, just for this view.

She had finally gotten a chance to explore the place a little. After managing to get herself somewhat dried off, though not completely, not having any dry clothes to change into, she had been pulled along by the rest of the company in a series of Dwarven shenanigans, from raiding the elves' kitchens in hopes of finding some good beer or ale (of which of course there was none) to bathing—or rather splashing, sliding around, and having something like water fight—in a large elven fountain. She was constantly getting the feeling that these kinds of things would be perfectly fine in a Dwarven home, but were totally out of place in the Elven home. Finally, she had taken an opportunity to slip off and explore a little. It was nice to be by herself for a bit. The view was wonderful, with the waterfalls and the sunset and the graceful architecture. She slowly wandered into an open hall that looked to be something of a museum, with paintings and a statue or two. The sun slanted through a grand window, hitting something on a platform with a ray of light. Karra wandered over to look. On display sat a sword, broken in shards, laid out on a piece of cloth.

_That's odd,_ she thought. _Who keeps a broken sword? I'd think it'd be useless._

After a moment, she wandered back out, nearly bumping into an elf on the porch outside. "Sorry…" she mumbled, her face reddening. Bumping into someone significantly taller than you was rather embarrassing. As she walked away, she noticed the elven lady staring at her.

"A dwarf woman…." The elf said softly. Karra rolled her eyes. This was probably, like, the _tenth _weird look she had gotten from an elf. It was getting really old.

She dawdled back to the dwarves' quarters, stopping frequently to gaze at the moonrise over Rivendell. The view was almost, _almost, _more stunning at night, with silver moonlight touching everything, and the gently tinkling of waterfalls lending the scene an ethereal quality. What could anyone every have against this place? How could the dwarves be so uncomfortable here? At that moment, she felt like she could stay here forever.

The moment was broken when she reached the dwarves' quarters. The seemed to be having some sort of noisy party; they had a fire (what was that that they were burning?!), and were roasting things over it. She slipped in and sat down in the background. Of course Fili was the first to notice she was there. He greeted her with a friendly, "You're back."

She moved closer to him. "I still don't see what you have against this place," she said. "I mean, it's beautiful."

He raised an eyebrow. "Not that again."

She shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, what are you roasting? Looks good." Gloin reached over and handed her a sausage. "Thanks….where'd you get that? I thought the elves were vegetarians."

"Out of our own food supply," Fili replied.

"And _what _are you burning?" she asked, a sudden suspicion rising in her.

Fili looked a bit uncomfortable. "I'm not exactly sure you want to know…."

Karra shook her head. "I'm afraid that's rather disrespectful, burning their furniture."

Fili stared at her.

"Well, I'm not that dumb," she retorted. "I _can _figure some things out. But I suppose you doubt that."

He laughed. "Of course I don't! But there are times…."

Karra gave him a playful scowl. "Has anyone ever told you you're annoying?"

"My brother did once….."

* * *

Karra couldn't sleep. It wasn't the usual night sounds that were keeping her awake; she had gotten used to that over the course of their travels. And it wasn't the fact that it was probably one o'clock in the morning and she had just gotten to bed. She could usually sleep anywhere. But not here, tonight. She raised herself on one elbow and looked around. The moonlight filtered through windows, casting blue shadows about the room. Gently slipping out of bed, she tiptoed to the doorway and slipped out onto the porch outside her bedroom. Maybe fresh air would help.

The moon was high in the sky by now, illuminating Rivendell with silver. Karra leaned on the railing and stared up at the stars, thinking. The night air was cool and invigorating. She realized with a little smile that this wasn't going to help her sleep; it was probably just serving to wake her up. She didn't really care. At least it was better than lying awake alone in a room.

_Alone. _Maybe that was the problem. She had gotten so used to sleeping by others, that when she finally had a chance to sleep by herself, she couldn't. Last night she had been exhausted. Today had been a slower day, and good day to rest up for the coming journey. Now if only she felt the least little bit sleepy.

"Karra." A voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned quickly to see Fili standing behind her. He walked to her side. She could imagine how _romantic _the scene must look, with the moonlight illuminating the everything with silver, and a slight flush rose in her cheeks.

"I couldn't sleep," she said softly.

"I couldn't either."

Karra raised an eyebrow. "_You _couldn't sleep?"

He nodded, but said nothing. It seemed obvious that something was wrong. Almost unconsciously, she began to finger the key around her neck nervously. She felt the necklace she had picked up in the troll hoard, and realized that she had completely forgotten about it. As it slipped out from behind her shirt, the moonlight glinted off of it.

"What is that?" Fili asked.

"It's a necklace," she said lamely. "I….I found it in the troll hoard. I picked it up because it….it looks just like one my mom used to have."

Fili looked at it with a strange look on his face. "How odd. It is obviously of dwarven make."

"Weird." Karra shook her head. "Maybe it's a coincidence?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps there is something more here at work than you know."

"Well, you're being all solemn all of a sudden," Karra said lightly. "Why the sudden seriousness?"

There was something odd in his look. "I know this might be the last time I'll ever see you," he said softly, almost to himself.

"What are you saying?!" exclaimed Karra.

"My uncle told me…." he stopped, as if unwilling to say it. After a moment, he continued. "You are to stay here," he said abruptly.

Karra drew back a bit. "Stay here? But I thought it was kind of an unspoken….agreement that I was going with you!"

"Remember what he said when we first found you? You were to travel with us _until we found a place for you._"

Karra looked away and swallowed. "But I thought…." Her voice trailed off. "I was starting to feel like….one of you. I thought everyone had accepted me."

Fili nodded. "I did too. But my uncle's word is law. You must stay." He paused. "I am sorry."

"Oh, I am too," she said darkly. She raised her face to his suddenly, her eyes flashing. "Why didn't you speak up for me? Why didn't you tell him I was going with you?"

"Believe me, I tried." He turned away. "I am very sorry, Karra. I tried as hard as I could."

Karra swallowed hard. "I thought I was one of you." She rested her head in her hands, moving slightly further away. She felt Fili's hand on her shoulder.

"Please," she said stiffly, without looking at him. "Just leave me."

"Very well," he replied, and she heard his footsteps as he walked away. The moonlight glinted on a tear in her eye.

* * *

_I'm really sorry if this chapter isn't quite as good as the others, I didn't have as much time to proofread it before posting. This week has been way too busy for me. :P_

_Also, I probably won't be updating next week. I'm in a play, and next week is performance week, so my schedule is crazy busy. I don't think I'll have much time to get on the computer at all, much less actually get on here and update! I'll miss you all, but it's only for a week. ;)_


	11. Chapter 11-One of the Company

_**Author's Note: **__I'm back! Since I haven't updated in a bit, I just had to post this chapter a day early. My schedule is back to somewhat normal now, so I should be updating fairly regularly for a bit. Until I catch up with myself. Which might be soon, since I've been suffering from a sever attack of writer's block lately….._

* * *

**Chapter 11-One of the Company**

Karra sighed and buried her face deeper in her pillow. She didn't _really_ have to get up now, did she? The bed was so comfortable, and…

And….

And…the realization hit her like a blast of wind. The dwarves were leaving today!

Without her! She suddenly remembered her conversation with Fili last night. The dwarves were leaving, or maybe they had already left, without her. She flew out of bed, and, without even thinking to comb her hair or smooth her rumpled clothes, rushed to the nearest dwarf's quarters, hoping against hope that they hadn't left yet….she had to say goodbye, or….or maybe she could convince them to let her go with them.

No one answered her knock. Upon further investigation, she found that the chamber was empty. On to the next…..and the next…..and the next….and they were all empty. The dwarves had left—without even waking her up to say goodbye. What was she supposed to do now? Just linger around Rivendell until she died of boredom? Well, maybe a little more exploring would be kind of fun. If anything could be called _fun _after being left behind by the only friends she had in this world.

She thought of breakfast. Dejected, she headed slowly in the direction of the breakfast area. She would be the only short person there this morning, and probably for the rest of her life. The thought was depressing. She had no friends here. Well, maybe she could find the elf she had met the day they had arrived here—was it _Alassiel_?_—_but that probably wouldn't go anywhere. She had lost the only friends she had, and would never see them again.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she barely noticed that Elrond had caught up to her and was walking beside her. All of a sudden, she glanced up and saw him looking down at her, a slight smile on his face.

"Hi," she said, a little shyly.

"The leader of you company spoke to me yesterday about you," he said.

Karra raised an eyebrow. "_Thorin_ spoke to _you_?" she asked incredulously.

"Very briefly." Karra thought she caught a hint of humor in his voice, and grinned slightly. _Very briefly, _indeed. It was probably below Thorin just to look Elrond in the face, much less actually _speaking _to him. "I was told you were to stay here," Elrond continued. "That is all."

Karra nodded sadly. "Yeah. Apparently I wasn't really part of the company. I thought I was." She stopped herself. Was she confiding in a stranger? How embarrassing.

Elrond gave her a compassionate smile. "Perhaps they are only trying to protect you."

"Yeah maybe. I think they just don't want me around." She remembered Fili's look last night. "Well, _Thorin _doesn't want me around. And he's the leader, so…." She shrugged. "I didn't really want to stay." _Oh! _"I mean….It's not like I don't like it here…..I really do…." _Why _did she have to have such a horrible habit of saying things before she thought? Now she'd probably offended him!

He didn't seem offended. "You will be safe here," he replied, changing the subject nicely.

"Yeah, thanks." She looked away. "I mean, I'm sure I'll like it here." _I guess. I'd like it more traveling with Fili….with the dwarves. _"Really, thought, thanks for….letting us stay. You don't know how much this place has refreshed me, at least. I'm not sure about the others." There she went again, spouting off rude sounding things. Sometimes she was so darn _awkward_.

With a gentle smile, Elrond put a hand on her shoulder. It was as if he _understood. _And then he walked away, leaving her to do what she wanted. For a moment, she stared after him. And then, turning, she stared up at the mountain pass by which she was sure the dwarves had left.

Karra was never quite sure what got into her. With a glance back at Elrond, and glance at the mountains, a sudden thought occurred to her. Without a moment's consideration, she turned and ran after Elrond.

"Mr. Elrond!" she called. No, that wasn't right. "Lord Elrond!" Finally catching up to his long strides, she huffed, "Which way did the dwarves leave?"

He turned in surprise. "Which way did they leave?" he said. "Well, the way they came, I suppose. I was not here to see them leave."

"Oh, right." Karra made a face. "Because they just kind of _snuck out, _didn't they." She pointed. "So they left that way?"

"I suppose." Elrond gave her a strange look. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh…." She replied, trying to sound innocent. "I just had a thought."

"I see." Elrond glanced up at the mountain pass. "Well, I will leave you to your….thought." It was as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, and it was a little eerie. She glanced away guiltily.

The minute Elrond was around the corner, Karra took off. She ran as fast as she could in the direction of the mountains, across the bridge, and up the little path. She slowed a little on the ascent, focusing on keeping her footing. She struggled her way up to the mountain pass and was completely out of breath when she got there. Looking back and forth, she tried to decide which way the dwarves had gone. Well, the probably hadn't gone back into the cliffs, so that left only one way. As soon as she had gotten her breath, she started off as fast as she could without losing her footing down the narrow path along the side of the mountain.

Pretty soon she was thoroughly out of breath, both from walking fast and from trying not to slip and fall over the edge. How far had the dwarves gotten this morning? She was getting very tired from walking, and the mountain path was…..dizzyingly high. _Focus on the view, _she told herself. The view was….beautiful, with the mountains spread out before her, some tipped with snow, some covered in trees. She glanced back. She could no longer see Rivendell. A strange sense of longing flooded over her. Perhaps she should have stayed.

No. She had made her decision. She would feel kind of stupid going back now. Pushing back all sentimental missing-Rivendell thoughts, she pushed on, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other, and not to look down the mountainside. Gradually, the narrow path widened slightly. After a long while, Karra heard faintly echoing voices. Her heart quickened, and she walked a bit faster. She was catching up!

Turning a corner, she came rather suddenly on the company. At first, no one noticed her. She walked rather nonchalantly right into the middle of them before anyone actually did see her.

"You came!" exclaimed Kili a little too loudly.

All heads turned their direction. Everyone stared at Karra. She gulped. For a moment, she regretted her decision. But then, standing as tall as she could, she tried to look determined, and was pretty sure she failed.

For a moment, everyone was silent. And then Thorin slowly approached her. Karra was almost _scared. _

"Did I not say you were to stay at Rivendell?" he said sternly.

"Yes." She swallowed hard.

"Did I not say you were only to travel with us until we found a place for you?" he asked.

"Yes." Karra backed away a little.

"Then _why did you follow us_?"

"I…" Karra fumbled for an explanation. "I…I wanted to be part of the company. I was starting to feel like one of you." She grew more confident as she spoke. "I couldn't just let you leave without me. I…I feel like I've invested some of me in this….this quest. I couldn't bear not being there when….when it ends." She stood up straighter and tried to meet his eyes, but that proved something she couldn't do. She quickly turned away from his dark gaze.

"This journey will be long and dangerous," he said darkly. _As if it hasn't already been dangerous, _Karra thought. "We cannot allow a woman to travel with us."

Karra suddenly felt anger rising in her. Hadn't she traveled with them for nearly their whole journey so far? And hadn't she become as good as one of them? A woman! How dare he!

"And so you'd leave me with the elves, who you don't trust?!" she exploded.

There was a moment of silence. Everyone stared at her.

"Uncle," Fili spoke up after what seemed an eternity, "I think we should let her stay with us."

"Yes," Kili piped up. "She's traveled with us for so long….."

Bilbo unexpectedly spoke up. "We should let her come," he said shyly. "You let me come."

This time everyone stared at Bilbo. Thorin turned his dark gaze away from Karra for a moment, then looked back at her. Fili tapped him on the shoulder. "Uncle…" He motioned for Thorin to come with him. Kili and Balin followed them.

"I guess they're too polite to talk about me in front of me," she said nervously, at the same time noticing how weird that sentence had sounded. Trying not to watch them talk, she leaned back against the cliff and attempted to look nonchalant, and failed. The entire company was silent, as if they were waiting, too.

Finally, after what seemed longer than an eternity, the four came walking back. After a slight dramatic pause, Thorin looked her direction, and said slowly,

"You will travel with us."

Kili let out a whoop and clapped her on the back. She just grinned as Fili took her hand and squeezed it, and Balin said congenially, "You're one of us now, lass."

Karra beamed. "Yeah….one of the company!"

With only a glance in her direction, Thorin ordered, "Move along."

"I suppose you realize this entitles you to a share in the treasure?" Kili asked her as they walked.

"Treasure? You never told me the benefits!" Karra exclaimed.

"Ah, yes, treasure, lass," Balin chimed in. "Great halls of it. Halls of gold….and many other treasures. The Arkenstone. Have you ever heard of the Arkenstone, lass?"

The conversation continued for most of the rest of the day. As they walked, the ledge grew wider and sloped gently downward, until they had traveled out of the cliffs that surrounded Rivendell. The sun had almost set when they made camp for the night. Karra had to admit, as uncomfortable as ponies were, walking for a day was almost worse.

"I think my legs are going to collapse," she groaned as she plopped down on the ground, watching everyone else make camp. "And I'm pretty sure I forgot my bedroll."

"Here." Dwalin tossed a blanket in her direction. "Use this."

She stared at it. "That doesn't look comfortable." She was ignored. With a little huff, she laid down with her hands behind her head. "Ah….it feels good to lay down," she sighed. "That was a _lot _of walking."

"I thoroughly agree." Karra turned her head to see Bilbo sitting beside her. "Ponies were better."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Oh…thanks for helping convince Thorin to let me stay."

"You did a fair bit of convincing yourself. Your comment about the elves…."

Karra flushed. "It just kind of….came out. I'm not sure how I could be so saucy to him."

"Saucy? I thought it was clever."

"Well, thanks, I guess. But it seems like Fili and Kili and Balin did most of the convincing." She rolled over and sat up. "Isn't the scenery here awesome? I love sunsets like these….."

* * *

Karra sat up and stared at the moon. She really must find something better to sleep on, she thought. The blanket made a good pillow, but she was sure the rest of her would be very sore in the morning. And just like last night, she couldn't sleep. She felt that even though she had been traveling with the company for weeks, this was her first real night on the quest. She was one of them now! And she had a share in the treasure. _Treasure. _She fingered the necklace she had found in the troll hoard, and with it came the thought of her mother. And her father. For the first time in a while, she began to wonder _who _her father was. That strange conversation between Fili and Kili that she had heard…._perhaps her father had known of this world. _What an odd thought.

She quietly stood up and tiptoed to the edge of camp. What a strange adventure this had been! What was to come?

She had no idea of the adventures that lay before her.

* * *

_I just realized that I have 45 follows! Yay! I can't believe so many people like my story enough to follow it! I love every one of you! And I just used way to many exclamation points!_

_Please review? _


	12. Chapter12-An Interesting Family Heritage

_**Author's Note: **__Umm…another really short chapter. But I think I managed to pack a lot into 2,000 words, so yeah. _

* * *

**Chapter 12-An Interesting Family Heritage**

Walking, walking, walking—it seemed like that was all they ever did. Uphill, downhill, into the gentle foothills of the Misty Mountains, they walked. The beautiful scenery at least somewhat kept Karra's mind off her sore feet. And really, Balin's boots _were _pretty comfortable. She did regret forgetting her bedroll, though. The ground was sometimes rocky, sometimes grassy, but almost always hard. At least now she could choose who to travel beside, and wasn't forced to ride behind someone on a pony every day. She did kind of miss the ponies, though….

The conversations continued, and Karra learned more and more about the Kingdom of Erebor. She learned that her share of the treasure was much larger than she could ever have imagined it to be. What would her mother think, she wondered. Her mom had always had kind of a thing for gold and jewels. It seemed that with all this talking and traveling and _questing, _she still had time to miss her home. Not that she wasn't glad she'd come. Who knows—maybe there was some great reason she was on this quest!

And so one day she was walking along, daydreaming about gold and treasure, when Balin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"May I see your key, lass?" he asked.

Karra jumped. He had startled her out of her musings. "You know about my key?" she asked a little uncertainly. "How?"

"Fili told me," he replied. He raised an eyebrow. "He told me you have had it with you the entire time you have been with us."

Karra nodded. "Yeah, I just never really saw the need to tell anyone about it. I mean, it's just a little trinket that was my dad's…." She pulled the key out from under her shirt and unhooked the chain it hung on. "Here. You can take a look at it if you want." Balin took it and gently fingered it. For a time, they walked along in silence, Balin examining the key. Once he muttered something under his breath, and Karra looked over and was shocked to see that it was glowing slightly around the edges. However, he quickly closed his hand around it, effectively quenching the white light. After a bit, he spoke. Carefully slipping the key back into her hand, he said, "It is as I thought."

Karra clasped the key tightly. "What?"

Balin nodded sagely. "This is one of the keys."

"One of the keys?" Karra's curiosity was peaked. "Are they, like, some sort of famous thing or something?"

"Not exactly _famous,_" Balin began. "In fact, the three keys were known only to a few. Your father was one of them."

Karra jumped. "My father? How is that even possible?"

"Has no one ever told you about your father, lass?" Balin asked. He seemed genuinely confused. "Your father was a dwarf of Erebor, thought dead when the dragon attacked. As we now know," he glanced at the key in her hand, "he simply disappeared. I always knew he was the possessor of one of the keys, but I never dreamed he'd actually used it."

Karra nearly fell over. "Wait, my dad was a _dwarf_? How….how….." She thought of her mom, and a slight smile grew on her face. "I mean, my mom was never the tallest, but _seriously…._"

Balin laughed. "I assume you mother was of the race of men?" he asked.

"If you mean human, _yeah, _of _course,_" Karra exclaimed. "Well, I mean, I guess…..I thought was dad was human until _now….._" She rolled her eyes. "How is that even possible? How could I never have known?"

Balin raised an eyebrow. "I am rather surprised your mother never told you the truth."

"Well, it's not like she _lied _to me," Karra protested. "Now that I think about it, she _was _always saying I got my height from my dad…." She suddenly began to laugh. "All those weeks trying to convince you I wasn't a dwarf! Now what am I supposed to say? I guess you were all laughing at me behind your beards, weren't you." All at once, she stopped. Turning back to Balin, she asked, "What do you mean by 'one of the keys'? Is this thing some sort of…..well, what is it?"

Balin began with the air of one telling a tale. "It is said that other realms exist parallel to ours. It is told by some that on Durin's day…"

Karra interrupted. "Durin's day?"

"Durin's day is the first day of the dwarves' new year," Balin explained. "It is the day that the last moon of Autumn and the first sun of Winter appear in the sky together. This actual occurrence is very rare, and said to have some connection with some sorts of magic. As I was saying, some say that in certain times and places on Durin's day, the line between realities blurs, and realms will intersect. Any object made on those times and in those places will exist in both realms at once, or will hold the power to travel between those realms. Three keys were forged in the right time and the right place many years ago. The doors they unlock have long been forgotten or fallen into oblivion. But the keys still exist. Your father possessed one. He gave it to you."

Karra tried to keep the shock off her face. "How do you know it was my dad's?" she asked.

"I recognize it as the key I know was his. I saw it once. The design and engravings are the same. That could be no coincidence."

Karra didn't know what to say. This, this she had never dreamed of! "This necklace?" she asked, pulling the necklace out. "It…it looks just like one my mom had. Does….does that have anything to do with anything?"

Balin nodded. "Perhaps. It is certainly possible that your father could have given you mother a dwarven necklace." Gently taking her hand, which she had clenched around the key, he asked, "May I show you something, lass?"

Karra nodded, opening her hand and staring at the key. "Sure." Balin ran his finger over the key and muttered something. Part of the intricate design began to glow.

"See those letters, lass?"

Karra shook her head. "Letters?" she said blankly. "All I see is the design."

Balin pointed to the glowing design. "These are dwarf-runes."

"Those are _letters_? I always thought they were just part of the design."

"Yes, lass, dwarf-letters. Translated into the common tongue, they read, 'I gift this to my daughter, in the hopes that she may someday discover her heritage.' Your father meant this for you."

Karra gasped. "My mom….my mom always told me he wanted me to have it after his…..disappearance, but….I never realized….."

Balin smiled sympathetically. "I know this is all rather sudden, lass." He carefully set the key back in her hand. The glow had faded now. "I understand it must be a shock." He patted her on the shoulder. "But you must realize that you have a proud heritage."

"So you knew my dad?" Karra asked. A sudden thought occurred to her. "Was he…..related….to…..anyone?"

"Related?" Balin shook his head. "Not exactly." He suddenly seemed to realize what she was saying, and glanced Fili and Kili's direction. "Not to closely related, that is. Not too closely at all." He gave her a knowing smile.

Karra let out a sigh of relief. If she had actually been _related _to….never mind. That would have been overly awkward. She smiled weakly at Balin. "Thanks….thanks for telling me this. I guess I needed to know sometime." She swallowed hard. "But it's all so….." her voice trailed off. "So odd. I mean, I never even dreamed….."

Balin patted her on the shoulder. "I know, lass, I know." He smiled compassionately at her.

Karra giggled. "This is….I don't even know what to think. I mean, I guess it's cool to be a dwarf….of course it is!" She stopped laughing as she thought of something. "I really need to talk to someone." Tossing a smile back at Balin, she ran off, and catching up with Fili, gave him a dark glare.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she burst out.

He looked a bit surprised. "Tell you what?"

"Why didn't you tell me about….this!" she pulled the key out and shoved it into his hand. "And about me! Or did you know?"

After staring at the key for a moment, he looked up at her with a slightly guilty look on his face. "I knew," he said softly.

"Then WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" she exclaimed.

"I….didn't want to shock you. I was waiting for the right time."

"Well, apparently Balin wasn't. I'm glad you didn't keep 'waiting for the right moment' until the end of the quest—or never," Karra retorted.

"I'm sorry, I really am," Fili said, and Karra thought she detected a little sheepishness in his voice. "I don't know what else to say to you." And then, rather suddenly, he took her hand, drew it towards him, and kissed it. And, looking straight into her eyes, he asked, "Will that do?"

Karra gasped. A funny little tingle ran down her spine, and she felt an odd fluttery feeling in her stomach. For a moment, she just stared into his eyes, and then said a little breathlessly, "Yes….that'll do…just fine…."

"Good," Fili said, and took her hand and kissed it again. Karra caught her breath again and found herself being drawn closer. She felt Fili's mustache tickling the back of her hand. Her heart began to beat very fast.

And then someone bumped into them. Karra thought afterwards that Kili had done it on purpose, for he drew back with a very contrived sounding, "Oh, terribly sorry." The moment was broken. Fili gently let her hand go and they walked on, catching up with the rest of the company. Karra's heart was still pounding. He had kissed her hand! And she had _liked _it! As she let her hand drop to her side, she bumped the sword that she had picked up in the troll hoard, which she had managed to secure, though not very well, to a makeshift belt she had made. The sword slipped out and fell to the ground. Blushing hard, she reached down to pick it up.

"Leave it to me to drop a sword," she muttered. "And I still have no idea how to use this thing."

Fili looked in her direction, apparently having heard what she said. For a moment, her heart began to pound again as she stared at him, her hand holding her sword hanging at her side.

"I think I'll just have to teach you, then," Fili said.

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_Whew! I think I reacted the same way Karra did when Fili kissed her hand. I mean, I was just writing along, and all of a sudden…..oh my gosh, did he just kiss her hand?! Seriously, that happens to me a lot. I'm not sure whether it's a good or a bad thing. XD _


	13. Chapter 13-Unsuccessful Swordplay

_**Author's Note: **__I was super nervous about posting this chapter, because I'm a total amateur when it comes to all that swordfighting stuff. I kind of tried to skim over it a little, so I'm sorry this chapter is so horribly short._

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**Chapter 13-Unsuccessful Swordplay **

Karra's shoulders slumped as Fili drew his sword away from her throat again.

"I'm never going to get this," she grumbled, letting her sword arm drop to her side.

"You've only just begun learning," Fili said encouragingly. "You shouldn't expect to master it in a couple of days."

"Was that meant to encourage me?" Karra asked with a sigh.

"Yes." Fili gripped his sword and raised it. "Shall we continue?"

Karra nodded. Fili held his sword at the ready. "Swing at me." Karra gave a weak little swing. "Put some assertiveness in it," he said with a laugh. "You're not going to hurt me." Karra backed up and tried to charge at Fili, her short sword clashing with his. He easily blocked her swing.

"You won't do anything that way," he advised. "Harder. Imagine I'm the actual enemy."

Karra gritted her teeth. "Right." Backing up a bit, she was stopped by Fili.

"Fix your stance." He gently corrected her. "If you stance is weak, you will be easily disarmed. Now. Swing at me again." Karra charged forward and their swords met. "Harder!" he cried. "I'm an orc, remember?" Gripping his sword, he said firmly, "Now. Block me." He swung his sword, and Karra raised her own clumsily to block him, and promptly got it knocked out of her hand.

"You swing hard," she gasped, bending down to pick it up.

"Exactly what I'm trying to get you to do. Now, block me again."

"Right." This time Karra kept a firmer grip on her own sword and was somewhat more successful.

And so it continued. They practiced for probably an hour, Fili gently correcting her, helping her, showing her various techniques. Back and forth, block and swing, fix your stance, hold our sword like this, swing harder, fix your stance, block and swing, and so on and so forth. Karra finally stopped for a moment, sweating and completely out of breath.

"I don't think you know how _tiring _this is," she gasped.

"Would you like to rest?" Fili asked.

Karra straightened. "NO!" she exclaimed. "I mean….I really need the practice. Sorry." With a firm grip on her sword, she tried to look determined. "Ready?"

Fili raised an eyebrow. "Who's training who?" he asked. "Are _you _ready?"

Karra took a deep breath. "Yeah."

They continued for a while longer, until Karra finally just plopped down on the ground, completely worn out. "I….think….I'm ready….to stop now," she gasped. "I am _never _going to be able to handle a _battle, _for goodness sakes!" She wiped the sweat off her forehead. "I never realized this was going to be this…_exhausting_."

Fili sat down beside her. "I remember when I was first learning," he said. "I felt the same way you do. That I would never _get it_." Slipping his sword back into its sheath, he smiled at her. "But I did."

"After, what, _sixty years_?" Karra retorted. "I don't have that long!"

"We'll practice every evening," Fili replied. "You'll begin to get it."

Karra sighed. "Begin."

"It took me years to master it, myself."

"And now you even know how to use _two._" Karra looked at him with a bit of admiration. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Use two swords."

"It took me a long time to master."

"I'm sure it did." Karra sighed. "I just hope this….quest…doesn't involve any huge major battles or anything like that. I'd probably get myself killed."

"I wouldn't let that happen," Fili said with a smile. "None of us would let that happen. You are one of us now. And none of us could stand on our honor if we let a lady get killed and didn't even try to protect her."

"So you'd protect because of your honor," she said quietly. "Is that all?"

"Not all." Fili looked at her seriously. "We would protect you because we value you. You are one of us."

Karra sighed. "One of you," she said. "I wonder what my mom would think if she saw me now. On a quest to reclaim a kingdom." She laughed. "She'd probably be proud. I mean, it's part of my heritage. I guess."

Fili gave her a probing look. "What do you mean by 'you guess'?"

"Well…." Karra stopped for a moment. Did she really want to tell him about her inner problems? "Well," she finally continued, "sometimes I feel like….like I only half belong anywhere. Like, my mom's heritage is in…." did she call it _her world_? "…..the...other world...and my dad's heritage is here. So where do I belong? Do I belong anywhere?"

"You belong wherever you want to," Fili said, and patted her on the shoulder. "You have a home with us, wherever we may travel, as long as you choose."

Karra sighed again. She knew quite well that Balin could show her how to use her key to get back to her world (or was it even her world?) but now…..she felt like she was a part of this quest, and she would never leave now. "Well," she said, trying to sound cheery, "right now I choose to continue practicing."

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_I want to apologize for this...I know it wasn't as good as the others, but like I said, I'm a total amateur at all this stuff. :P I hope it was okay._


	14. Chapter 14-Storm Giants?

_**Author's Note: **Well...I really have nothing to say about this chapter. Except that it was a bit of a challenge to write, because...well, you know, movie sequences. So yeah. Boring author's note. :P_

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**Chapter 14-Storm Giants?**

_Don't look down, _Karra told herself. _Don't look down, don't look down. _The path through the mountains was _very _narrow, it was nighttime, and it was storming, making the rocks beneath her feet rather slippery. She pressed herself as close to the cliff as she could and stepped gingerly, trying her very best to keep her footing. Several times she had slipped, nearly causing herself a mini heart attack. There was no way that was happening again. She clung to any small outcroppings she could find, but most of them were slippery with rain.

A sudden crash of thunder made her jump. "Hold on!" Thorin shouted. Before Karra knew what was happening, she felt something move underneath her feet, and suddenly she was looking down into a chasm. With a gasp and a little shriek, she jumped backwards and found herself slipping and sliding away from the gap, only to lose her footing and fall to her bottom, _hard, _on the narrow rock path. She shrieked again and tried to scramble back up as she slid towards the edge. Just then, she felt someone helping her up, pulling her to her feet. She looked up to see….in the moment of stress, her mind went completely blank on who it was. Ori? "Thanks," she muttered.

"We must find shelter!" Thorin shouted above the wind and thunder and noise.

"Watch out!" Dwalin cried, and Karra looked up to see a huge boulder hurtling towards them. She shrieked again _(was this, what, like the third time? She was such a wimp) _and pressed herself further back into the cliff wall, if that was even possible, as the boulder hit the cliff above them with a deafening crash, and shattered, sending not-so-small chunks of rock showering down upon them.

"This is no thunderstorm!" shouted Balin. "Look!"

Karra looked up and nearly shrieked again. A piece of the mountain was actually _moving_! Moving, like it was alive! The _thing, _whatever it was, reared up from the mountain, and using what looked to be an arm, ripped a huge piece of stone out of the cliff.

"Well, bless me, the legends are true!" exclaimed Bofur. "Giants! Stone giants!"

"What's a storm giant?" Karra cried, as the boulder flew past them and hit another….storm giant, was it? in the….was that its head? Little pieces of rock broke off and came showering down around them. Karra, rather embarrassingly, found herself clinging to Oin, who happened to be standing beside her. All at once the stone beneath her feet began to move, and everything seemed to careen backwards. Karra let out a little cry as she saw that the path they were standing on was splitting, taking half the company with it. She gasped as everything whipped forward, and clung even harder to Oin. She vaguely heard someone calling her name, but then everything slid again, and a wave of dizziness and nausea swept over her. She tried desperately to hold onto something as the world around her careened back and forth.

With a jarring jerk, the path slammed into another section of rock, and Karra found herself following the others as they scrambled onto the new section. She slipped and caught herself, breathless, on an outcropping. Apparently the rock they were on now was a giant, too, for the ground began to move again, and Karra felt like she might throw up. Finding Gloin convenient, she wrapped her arms around him and hung on.

A giant's fist slammed into the cliff dangerously close to them. Karra shrieked again and ducked just in time as rocks fell about them, and slid to her bottom. Gloin helped her up as the ground careened backward again, and more boulder-size rocks fell past them.

The cliff moved again, and for a moment, Karra saw the other part of the company as they moved past them.

"Kili!" she heard Fili shout. "Karra! Kili!" And then they were out of reach, and as the giant moved backwards again, and Karra watched in transfixed horror as another giant's knee moved forward and slammed directly into the cliff—exactly where she thought the rest of the company was. The giant fell backward, and appeared to lose its footing, falling into the chasm.

And then everything was still. "Fili!" Karra cried, and rushed forward and around the corner, fully prepared to find nothing, or to find the rest of the company smashed to bits. Rounding the corner, she saw them lying there and gasped. "Oh no. Oh no," she said softly, but then, Balin called out,

"It's all right! We're alive!" With an enormous sigh of relief, Karra ran forward and singled out Fili.

"You're alright! I thought you'd been smashed!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck. But then, suddenly, Bofur called,

"Where's Bilbo? Where is our hobbit?"

"There!" shouted Ori, pointing to the edge. And there was Bilbo, hanging off the edge of the cliff, holding on desperately. Karra gasped and rushed forward with the others, but she couldn't quite bring herself to lean far enough over the edge to lend Bilbo a hand as the others were. Nothing worked; no one could reach him. Suddenly Thorin was swinging himself off the edge to reach the hobbit. Karra nearly screamed again, until she realized that he had landed on a small ledge and was hoisting Bilbo up.

The relief was short lived. Without warning, Thorin was now hanging off the edge of the cliff. Karra pushed forward with a little cry, trying her best to help this time; but Dwalin had already grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

But the next moment, Karra noticed that she had somehow ended up way too close to the edge. For she lost her footing, and suddenly she felt her world slip out from under her.

It took her a split second to realize that she was falling. When it hit her, she threw her hand upward and reached for something, anything, and found herself hanging off the cliff by one arm.

"Help!" she cried. "Help me!"

"Grab my hand!" she heard Fili yell. Reaching up with her free arm, she let go for one second and felt a rush of air as she fell. But then someone had grabbed her by both arms and was dragging her up. For a moment, she hung there, gasping, and then she was sitting on firm ground again.

"Don't ever do that again," she heard Fili whisper in her ear.

"Don't do what?" she gasped.

"Scare me like that."

For a minute, Karra just sat there, gasping trying to regain a feeling of normalcy. Her head spun, and she felt like she could throw up. She felt Fili's arms go around her waist, and she could tell that he had been genuinely frightened for her for a moment.

She glanced Bilbo's direction. He was dusting himself off and looked just about as scared as she probably did. She managed to give him a weak smile, though he probably didn't see her.

"I thought we lost our burglar," Dwalin eventually said, looking at Bilbo.

"I thought we lost Karra," Fili piped up.

"Bilbo's been lost ever since he left home," Thorin said harshly. "He should never have come. He has no place amongst us."

Karra wondered for a second if Thorin felt the same way about her. But then she was being gently helped to her feet, and she found herself following the others, still a bit dazed, wondering what exactly had just happened.

It took Karra a moment to realize when the company stopped. But apparently they had just walked into a cave. For a minute everyone looked around, then Dwalin said, "It looks safe enough."

"Search to the back. Caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied," Thorin advised. Dwalin raised his lantern, which had somehow not broken through all of that, and thoroughly examined the place.

"There's nothing here," he finally announced.

Karra was still a bit uncertain. "Yeah, well, how do we know we're not inside one of those storm giants?" she asked nervously.

"Stone giants," Kili corrected her.

"Whatever." Karra shrugged and looked around. "But somehow I don't trust this place."

Apparently everyone else did, though. "Let's get a fire started," Gloin said matter-of-factly, plopping a bundle of wood down on the floor.

"No," said Thorin. "No fires, not in this place." Well, at least Thorin agreed with her! "Get some rest," he ordered. "We start at first light."

"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us," Balin protested. "That was the plan."

"Plans change," Thorin replied with a _yeah, well, get over it _attitude. "Bofur, take the first watch."

Soon everyone was settled and basically asleep. Karra wondered how they could sleep after what had just happened. _She _couldn't seem to calm down. She tossed and turned, sat up, laid back down, tried various positions, but to no avail. It wasn't that she was _uncomfortable, _exactly; she had arranged her blankets in such a way as to provide a measure of comfort on the stone floor. But she couldn't get that falling feeling out of her head. She kept replaying over and over in her mind that moment when she had lost her footing and the ground had slipped out from under her. That sudden loss of control….for a moment, she had wondered what it would be like to dash to pieces on the rocks….she was falling….

Karra opened her eyes quickly. She had fallen asleep and was having a nightmare. Turning over, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out that feeling. Restless, she turned over again. She noticed that Bilbo was apparently awake, too and he and Bofur were apparently having some sort of conversation. Not that she meant to eavesdrop, well maybe she did, but she perked up her ears to listen.

She barely caught the tail end of the conversation. "I wish you all the luck in the world, I really do," Bofur was saying. As she watched, Bilbo turned and began to walk away. She barely had time to wonder what has happening before she heard Thorin shout, "Wake up!"

Before she had time to wonder what was happening _now, _the ground collapsed out from under her. Suddenly she was falling again. And then she hit something hard, and she was sliding down some kind of chute. The twists and turns reminded her vaguely of a slide at a waterpark, except not nearly as fun. She slid, bouncing off walls and floors, bumping her head several times. And then suddenly everything disappeared and for a moment, she was falling through the air again.

_Squelch. _Everyone landed with a thud on top of one another, groaning. Karra struggled to sit up. "I am going to be _so _sore tomorrow," she grumbled, but was cut short when she looked up to see the ugliest things she had ever seen coming towards her.

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_I'm not in a real creative mood right now. So I'll just say I like reviews. And that I'm sorry this chapter was so short. I have nothing more to say. _


	15. Chapter 15-Goblin-Town

_**Author's Note: **Due to Easter travels and stuff, I didn't have as much time to look this chapter over before posting. So please forgive me if you find any typos or mistakes or anything like that. __  
_

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**Chapter 15-Down in the Deeps of Goblin-Town **

Karra nearly shrieked again as the horrible things swarmed over them. "What's happening?" she cried. "Will someone please tell me what's happening?" She was pulled to her feet by one of the….things….and roughly searched. She struggled and kicked and tried to punch it in the face before thinking to reach for her sword. She managed to get a brief hold on it amongst the chaos, and noted suddenly that it was glowing an odd sort of white. But before she could do anything, she found it roughly confiscated and felt herself being swept along with the crowd of monsters.

"Bilbo!" she cried. "Fili! Kili! Anyone!" Something grabbed her and clapped a hand over her mouth, and she smelled a horrible stench; she nearly gagged. She was pushed forward and dragged and hit and roughly patted over by several of the ugly creatures. She tried to fight back as best she could without her weapon, punching several in the face, kicking, struggling as hard as she could. But the whole company was irrevocably drawn forward by the sheer mass of the crowd of creatures.

Karra somehow managed to kick one of the things over the edge of the tiny bridge they were being led across. It fell with a scream down into the chasm below. Before she had time to feel even remotely satisfied with herself, one of the creatures grabbed her by the arm and roughly pushed her forward. She pushed back and tried to kick it in the shin, but it just kicked her back, and she fell flat on her face.

"Get up and move," it growled, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to her feet.

"But you pushed me over!" she gasped, and was rewarded for her attempted sauciness by a slap across the face.

"Get movin'," it growled, grabbing her around the waist and shoving her forward.

"Don't touch me like that!" she cried, slapping it across the face. It shoved her forward into another creature, which grabbed her and shoved her forward again. Another grabbed her hair and pulled it, presumably just for the fun of it.

"Ow!" she shrieked, whipping her hair out of the way and turning quickly to kick the goblin in the shin. But she was grabbed and tossed forward, landing dangerously close to the edge of the skinny bridge. She gasped and picked herself up as fast as possible, trying to keep her balance and not be shoved off by the throng. She was pushed forward again, grabbed and pushed forward, and so on and so forth. The mob of creatures herded the company through their caverns, roughly pushing them forward and squelching all attempts to fight back by their sheer numbers. Finally the seemed to have come to something, for the whole group came to a stop.

Karra looked up and saw a sight that was uglier than any she had ever seen. A huge creature sat on what appeared to be a throne. He was uglier than any she had seen yet. And she had thought orcs and wargs were ugly! This thing was horrible. It looked like it was made of _mucus, _and its chin dangled to the ground, swaying like a blob. Karra winced. _Gross. _

And what was worse, Karra realized a moment later, was that it, and the other creatures, were _singing. _Several were pounding on ugly metal cymbals, and all of them were singing a horrible song with their horrible voices. When Karra tried to cover her ears, she got her hands roughly pulled down and held down. She tried not to listen to the words, which were just as horrible as the music. They were singing something about smashing and snapping, and various other forms of torture. Karra caught the words 'goblin town' several times. _Goblins. _Well, the name fit.

The thing stood up and walked towards them, still singing with its horrible voice. Karra was glad she was in the back of the group….she couldn't have handled having that monster coming so close to _her._ It hit a note, and began to spin around in some sort of dance. Finally, the song ended with a crash, and the goblin king sat back down on his 'throne' and said proudly, "Catchy isn't it? It's one of my own compositions."

"That's not a song, it's an abomination!" Balin cried, voicing Karra's exact thoughts.

"Abominations, mutations, deviations….that's all you're gonna find down here," the thing said, with a certain amount of pride in his voice, Karra thought with a grimace. It leaned forward and said harshly, "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves?" Its voice grew louder. "ASSASINS?"

A small goblin stepped forward. "Dwarves, your Malevolence."

"Your Malevolence," Karra muttered. "What a perfect title."

"Dwarves?" the king goblin sounded genuinely confused.

"We found them on the front porch," replied the same small creature.

_You have a lovely front porch, _Karra thought.

"Well, don't just stand there!" ordered the Malevolence. "Search them! Every crack, every _crevice_!"

"Oh, right, I have crevices," Karra said sarcastically to the nearest dwarf, but her comment was cut short as a creature jumped on her and began to roughly pat her down. It pulled her hair (apparently these things liked to pull her hair) ran its hands thoroughly over her, and pulled her belt off. After it was apparently satisfied, it let her go and shoved her backward with a maniacal laugh. She steadied herself and bit her lip to keep from throwing an abusive comment at the thing. It might not be the best thing to do at the moment.

Apparently the search was finished, for everyone seemed to be standing still. Glancing at the others, she saw that they all looked rather defiant. She stood up straighter and tried to copy them.

The goblin king was examining an elven candelabra he had apparently pulled off of one of the dwarves. "Made in Rivendell?" he said, turning it over. "Bah. Second age….couldn't give it away." And with that, he tossed it aside, and it clattered down into the abyss. "What are you doing in these parts?" he growled, leaning forward.

The entire company stared defiantly at him…it. He…it…became rather angry. "Speak!" it shouted.

Karra saw now that Oin was pushing his way forward. "Don't worry lads….I'll handle this," he said quickly. At any other time, Karra would have added _and one lass, _but she didn't really want to draw attention to herself.

"No tricks!" cried the goblin king. "I want the truth—warts and all!"

"You're going to have to speak up," Oin said with the closest thing to sauciness Karra had ever heard in his voice. "Your boys have flattened my trumpet."

"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" the goblin king shouted, and stomped towards Oin angrily. Bofur quickly pushed forward and held up a hand.

"If it's more information you're wanting, I'm the one you should speak to!" he said quickly. The king goblin pulled back for a moment and paused, as if saying, hmmm, this might do. "We were on the road," Bofur quickly began, before he could be stopped. "Well, it's not so much a road as a path….well, come to think of it, it's not even that….it's more like a track. Anyway," he prattled on, "the point is that we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't! Which was a problem, because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday." It was obvious the goblin king was getting irritated by now. If the situation wasn't so dire, Karra would have giggled, because Bofur sounded exactly like she did sometimes.

The goblin king grew more impatient by the moment. Dori pushed forward and said, "Visiting distant relatives."

"Mmmhmm," Bofur agreed. "Couple of inbreds on me mother's side."

"Shut UP!" the king goblin bellowed angrily. "If they will not talk, then we'll make them _squawk_!" Its voice grew louder. "Bring up the mangler! Bring up the bone breaker!" it shouted, savoring the words as if it enjoyed them. "Start with the-" it began, and then its gaze suddenly shifted to the back of the group. Karra stiffened. She felt its ugly eyes boring into her. "What's this?" it growled. Still staring at Karra, it continued, "Bring that one forward." Karra felt herself being shoved and pulled forward. She didn't resist. It was too much effort. But she did try to stare defiantly at the monster king. She wasn't sure if she succeeded or not.

"This one is different," growled the thing. "Aha!" it exclaimed. "A lady!" It made a mock bow to her. "Ladies first!" Straightening up, it bellowed, "Start with the lady!"

Karra nearly felt her heart stop. She shrunk back and was pulled forward again. And then she heard a shout.

"Wait!" called Thorin, stepping forward.

The king's attention was suddenly directed away from Karra. "Well, well, well," it said sarcastically. "Look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King Under the Mountain." It gave Thorin a _very _sarcastic mock bow. _What is with this guy and mock bows. _

"Oh!" said the goblin king, straightening up from 'paying homage.' "But I'm forgetting. You don't have a mountain." Karra glanced at Thorin. He stared the thing in the face defiantly. "And you're not a king," it continued. "Which makes you…nobody, really." It pretended to look sad. Karra took the opportunity to sneak back and hide in the middle of the group. She found herself standing beside Fili. As if to comfort her, he put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned her head on his and tried to keep from crying from nervousness.

The king monster leaned in closer to Thorin. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head," it said. "Just a head," it chuckled. "Nothing attached." Karra shuddered. The rest of the group reacted pretty much the same way.

"Perhaps you know of whom I speak." The goblin grinned evilly. "An old enemy of yours. A pale orc astride a white Waag!"

"A white what?" Karra mumlbed nervously. "I didn't get that."

Thorin was saying something Karra couldn't quite hear. And then, "He was slain in battle long ago!" he exclaimed.

The king leaned in closer. "So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" A creepy little goblin in a basket came flying up on a rope. "Send word to the pale orc," the king said to the goblin that was obviously a scribe of sorts. "Tell him I have found his prize!" The creepy little thing wrote something and flew off on some sort of rope and pulley system, cackling manically. Before she knew what was happening, Karra found herself being yanked away from Fili. One of the little monsters put his arms around his waist and practically carried her to another.

"His majesty said to start with the lady," the thing grinned evilly. "Here." It tossed Karra at another goblin, which caught her roughly and pulled her hair. What was with these creatures pulling her hair? Was it interesting or something?

She tried to kick in in the face, desperately struggling and punching. She managed to break free, only to be picked up by another and tossed again, landing dangerously close to the edge.

The king of the goblins began to sing another song, this one having something to do with bones being shattered and necks being wrung, but Karra didn't have time to shudder at the words; she was too busy trying to struggle out of the grips of multiple creatures.

Suddenly she heard a great yell from the goblin king. She looked up to see him jumping to his throne as if something had scared him. She suddenly thought he looked like a squeamish lady who had seen a mouse. The thought almost made her laugh.

"I know that sword!" he shouted, fear evident on his face. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the Blade that sliced a thousand necks!"

Without warning, Karra found herself being grabbed and tossed again. _Another _goblin caught her and shoved her into another's arms. All at once she felt a searing pain in her cheek, and something dribbled down her face. She barely had a moment to realize that it was blood. The goblin king began to shout something about "Kill them all! Cut off his head!" Karra was desperately shoving her way through the hoard of goblins, trying to see what was happening…..

Suddenly everything went quiet. A bright light shone in her eyes. Karra gasped and fell backward. _What was happening? _The brightness seemed to grow, and push everything back before it. Karra closed her eyes….after a moment, she opened them again to see a tall silhouette coming towards them. For a moment she was frightened. Another enemy?

Then the recognition hit her like a slap. "Gandalf!" she shrieked. The dimmed lights began to glow again, and everyone sat up, staring at Gandalf.

"Take arms," he said slowly. And then, with a shout, "Fight. Fight!" Everyone jumped to their feet, and suddenly everything was chaos. Karra desperately kicked and punched her way through the mass of creatures, only thinking to get to her sword. She noticed through the mess of fighting that some of the dwarves had managed to get to the pile of weapons. Suddenly the sword was flying towards her.

"Catch it!" she heard someone yell. And she caught it. By the blade. _Ouch. _Not a good idea. Ignoring the blood oozing from the cut on her hand, she switched the sword to the other hand and was soon desperately fighting for her life. She was thankful she had had at least _some _training in how to use the thing. She managed to give on goblin a nasty cut on the arm, and, whirling, sliced another across the neck, not quite killing it. It fell to the ground whimpering, and Karra raised her sword and drove it downward into the goblin's chest, this time actually killing it. She kicked the body over the edge and saw it fall into the abyss.

It suddenly hit her what she'd had done. She had _killed _something. This was the first time she'd shed blood with this sword. For a moment she just stared at it, noting absently that it was glowing an odd sort of white, through the blood stains that is. She barely had time to process the fact that she had just murdered someone, before she had to turn and defend herself against a goblin approaching her, obviously seeking to push her off the edge. Almost mechanically, she shoved the sword in the direction of the creature's heart. She missed, however, and goblin dodged out of the way. She suddenly heard Gandalf's shout, "Follow me!"

Karra looked wildly around, trying to figure out which way everyone was heading. Finally she spotted Gandalf and headed his way, randomly shoving her sword every which way, hoping she'd hit something. She caught up with the dwarves and stopped for a moment, leaning over and breathing hard.

"We have no time for that!" cried someone next to her. "_Come on_!" The dwarf pulled her by the hand and practically dragged her forward.

"Alright!" she cried. "I can run by myself!" Jerking out of the dwarf's grasp, she ran as fast as she could across the rickety swaying bridge, willing herself not to look down. Pretty soon, however, she was in the back of the group. One of the goblins running after them approached her and grabbed. _Oh no, not again. _

"Can you see the bottom?" it hissed in her ear.

"N-n-no," she quavered.

"Well, you will soon!" it exclaimed triumphantly, and began to pick her up, obviously intending to throw her over the edge. And then suddenly it let out a scream and spun around, dropping Karra on the bridge. She looked up to see Fili holding both of his swords crossed at the goblin's throat.

"Don't you hurt her," he said quietly, almost _fiercely, _just before slicing off the goblin's head and kicking the body over the edge, _hard_. Karra shuddered as the head rolled toward the edge and stopped just before falling off.

Fili gently helped her to her feet. "Are you alright?" he asked hurriedly.

Karra winced. "I guess." She shrugged. "I mean, I'm as alright as I'm going to be, considering….." She was interrupted by a hideous goblin yell, and Fili grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him, yelling over the din, "Come on!" They ran to catch up with the rest of the group which was now onto another bridge. Karra slashed her sword back and forth, sometimes getting lucky and actually managing to hit a goblin with it. Fili wielded his double swords expertly, cutting down goblin after goblin. Karra found a moment or two amongst the chaos to be a little embarrassed at her own measly skills. Slowly but surely, they worked their way back up to the group, which was now about _two _bridges ahead of them. The finally found themselves in the middle of the group that was now running across a _very _rickety bridge. Karra bit her lip as she thought what would happen if she made one wrong step through those unevenly spaced boards.

They were across the bridge and onto solid ground again now, fighting for dear life. Karra swung her sword one way and another, desperately trying to remember everything Fili had taught her about using it. Hold the sword right, stance, don't drop the sword, stay alive. That last one was her main focus. She managed to deliver a couple of nasty cuts, but that was about all. Suddenly she felt a searing pain in her own arm. She gasped and stared at the blood dripping down her right arm. _Great. I'm right handed. _She switched the sword to her left hand, and felt horribly clumsy. So she switched it back, trying to ignore the searing pain every time she moved her arm. Vaguely, she heard Thorin shout, "Cut the ropes!" She saw a platform full of goblins swing out, about to fall, only to be caught as others on ropes spiraled around it. _Nice one, Thorin, _she thought as she quickly and rather unexpectedly dispatched a goblin coming straight towards her.

Suddenly she was being pulled along with the group as they pushed a ladder before them, pushing goblins right and left. The came to a gap in the bridge, and setting the ladder down, they ran across it. Karra bit her lip and didn't look down. She jumped off onto the comparatively solid bridge just as someone knocked the ladder down and it fell into the abyss.

Karra managed to get herself into the middle of the group, and let herself be pulled along and somewhat protected by the surrounding dwarves. She let her sword arm rest for a moment and regretted it as pain flooded into the wound. She gasped and forced herself to continue running.

They ran again onto a very unstable bridge. Before Karra knew what was happening, someone had cut the bridge loose and they were swinging forward. She heard a cry of "Jump!" The bridge swung forward, and she closed her eyes and jumped blindly. She let out a sigh of relief and opened her eyes as when she landed on the other side. As she looked back, the bridge swung back, and goblins swarmed onto it, attacking those still on the swinging platform. As it swung forward again, the others jumped off, cutting the ropes of the bridge behind them, letting it fall into the chasm. Karra was pulled along again. They ran on, Karra gasping for breath and still desperately trying to ignore the pain in her arm as she swung her sword back and forth.

Suddenly there was a great flash of white light, and a boulder large stone dropped in front of them. Karra nearly shrieked. She was startled until she realized that Gandalf had dropped the boulder, and they were pushing it in front of them. She heard the horrifying squish of goblins being flattened beneath rolling boulder as they ran behind it. The stone rolled off a corner, and they continued on, running and fighting. They ran onto another rickety bridge. As they ran across it, there was suddenly a huge crash. A large ugly figure rose up before them….the goblin king. Karra nearly shrieked again. The entire company came to a stop and stared at the huge thing.

It grinned. "You thought you could escape me?" it laughed, swinging its staff scepter thing down onto the bridge right in front of Gandalf. Gandalf ducked and jumped back.

"What are you gonna do now, wizard?" the thing sneered. Gandalf raised his staff, and poked it in the eye. It drew back, crying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

_What a wimp, _Karra thought, and smiled grimly.

Gandalf drew his sword back and sliced the goblin king across the stomach. It practically screamed, and fell to its knees.

"That'll do it," it said matter-of-factly.

Gandalf sliced its chin, and it fell on its face. Karra couldn't help giggling a little at the slightly comical sight. As Gandalf drew back and raised his sword for the final strike, Karra suddenly heard a cracking beneath her feet. She looked down to see the bridge moving.

Before she knew what was happening, they were falling. Karra clung to the board above her, only to let out a cry and let go as a pain shot through her arm. The platform crashed into a wall, and Karra gasped and let out another cry as her body slammed into the rock wall, snapping her neck back into a painful position. As she desperately tried to hold onto the falling platform, she felt little tingles of pain up and down her neck.

They landed with a crash. Karra cried out again as pain sot first through her arm, then her neck. She tried to wiggle out of the mess, but found she was pinned under _Bombur, _for goodness sakes, and there was no getting out from under him.

"Well, that could've been worse," someone said. _Are you kidding? _Karra thought.

Suddenly there was a crash, and Karra felt a board slam into her face, setting off another wave of pain as she suddenly remembered the cut on her cheek. She looked up through the boards to see the body of the goblin king lying on top of them.

"You've got to be joking," Dwalin growled. The all began to wiggle out from under the ruin of the bridge. Karra sighed with relief as Bombur moved off of her, and she could move again. As she painfully began to make her way out from under a board, she heard a yell. Forgetting all pain for a moment, she jumped up and shrieked as she saw hundreds, no, thousands, of goblins rushing down upon them.

"There's too many; we can't fight them!" Dwalin exclaimed.

"Only one thing can save us now!" Gandalf said desperately. "Daylight!" He motioned quickly for them to follow him.

Karra felt pure panic descend on her. "Run?" she squeaked. "I can't run!" She tried to take a step forward and cried out again at the sharp pain in her arm and neck. She tripped and fell to her knees. "Don't leave me!" she cried.

And then she felt arms around her waist, helping her up. "I'll help you," she heard Fili's voice in her ear. He practically lifted her up and carried her, running to catch up with the others. Karra gasped at the sudden pain again, and the realization that Fili was….carrying her.

"Are you alright?" she heard him say, through a haze of pain and exhaustion.

"I—don't—think—so," she gasped as they ran towards the entrance, and towards the precious daylight.

* * *

_That was quite possibly the longest chapter I've written yet. That was like the mother of all movie sequences to write. It just kept going and going and going. Phew! I hope you liked it._

_I may or may not be updating for the next week and a half. We'll be on vacation, some of which time I will not have internet access. So if I don't update for a bit, that's why. _


	16. Chapter 16-Of Pine Cones and Trees

_**Author's Note: **__Well, I'm back. (And yes, that was a deliberate Sam quote) I would say I'll be updating regularly for a bit, but due to some….extenuating circumstances (which I'll explain at the end of the chapter), I probably won't. So please enjoy this chapter, because it might be the last, at least for a little while. _

* * *

**Chapter 16-Of Burning Pine Cones and Falling Trees**

Karra blinked in the sudden sunlight as the company spilled out of the goblin tunnels. Fili set her on her feet for a moment, and hissed in her ear, "Can you run now?"

Karra winced. "I guess." She stumbled forward, tripped over a rock, and nearly fell to her knees again. Picking herself up with a little gasp of pain, she grabbed Fili's arm tightly. With his hands about her waist, he helped her as best he could. They soon lagged behind a bit.

"Come on!" she heard Kili's shout from ahead of them.

"I can run on my own," gasped Karra to Fili. "I don't need so much help." Realizing how that had sounded, she spluttered, "I mean….."

"I understand." Fili loosened his helping hold on her, and she promptly stumbled. He took her arm again.

"No…" she gasped. "We'll get behind."

Fili glanced worriedly behind them. He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him. "Just come on," he said urgently. "I'm sorry, but you have to." Karra stumbled as fast as she could down the steep hill behind him, trying to ignore the little tingles of pain in her neck. She tripped several times, and Fili helped her up, and they ran on, finally managing to catch up with the company….sort of. The run down the hill had made Karra a bit dizzy. Her head pounded, and she felt like she was about to trip and fall head over heels to the bottom.

Finally, they slowed a bit. Reaching a somewhat flat spot, they gradually came to a stop. Gandalf counted them as they came past.

"Kili, that's eleven," he muttered. "Bombur, twelve…..Fili, Karra, that makes fourteen, fifteen…..where's Bilbo? _Where is our hobbit_?" he suddenly exclaimed.

Karra started and looked around her. Bilbo! Where was Bilbo? How could she have missed him? Everyone else was looking around desperately, too, and Dwalin exclaimed, "Curse the Halfling! Now he's lost?!"

"I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin said accusingly.

"Don't blame me!" Dori exclaimed.

"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf asked firmly.

"I think I saw him slip away when they first collared us," Nori began hesitantly.

"What happened exactly?" Gandalf nearly shouted. "Tell me!"

"I'll tell you what happened," Thorin said bitterly, stepping forward. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it. He has thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door!"

_I guess I'm at fault here, too, _thought Karra wryly. _He might as well be talking about me. _

"We will not be seeing out hobbit again," Thorin continued. "He is long gone."

Karra felt a sudden surge of irritation. She knew Bilbo, and he wouldn't do a thing like that. How could Thorin so grossly misjudge him?

"You—" she began, but was interrupted by a voice.

"No. He isn't." All heads turned Bilbo's direction as he stepped out from behind a tree. Karra could have hugged him for proving what she had been about to say. Gandalf voiced her exact thoughts by exclaiming, with a broad smile,

"Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!"

Bilbo stepped forward a little awkwardly, trying to act casual, patting Balin on the shoulder with a matter-of-fact nod.

"Bilbo!" exclaimed Kili with a giant grin. "We'd given you up!"

"How on earth did you get past the goblins?" Fili asked disbelievingly.

"How indeed," muttered Dwalin, somewhat distrustfully. Karra took a moment to glare at him. Bilbo had just come back, for goodness sakes! Why did no one trust him? Did they feel the same way about her?

"Well," said Gandalf happily, "what does it matter? He's back!"

"It matters," said Thorin grimly. "I want to know. Why did you come back?"

"Look, I know you doubt me," Bilbo began. "And I…I know you always have. And you're right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. My garden. See, that's where I belong. That's home. That's why I came back, because….you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you." He paused. "And I will help you take it back if I can," he finally finished.

Karra sniffed. Something in Bilbo's words had touched her longing for her own home. What was her mom doing right now? Did she even know she was gone? And her friends? Did they miss her?

But this _was _her home, this world. It was her dad's home, and it would be hers. But still only _half _hers. She sniffled and a tear formed in her eye. Would she ever only half belong anywhere? Would anywhere _truly _be her home now? The tear began to run down her cheek.

Fili was at her side. He put his arm around her shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"No, I'm not," she cried. "I'm never going to be alright if I only half belong here." Suddenly she burst into tears. "I hate this place!" she sobbed. "It's full of ugly creatures, and I wish I'd never come, and I think I broke my neck…."

Fili cut her off, honest concern on his face. "What did you say?"

"I said I wish I'd never come!" she exclaimed.

Fili didn't seem insulted. How did he go through life never being insulted, Karra wondered, suddenly feeling terrible about what she had just said. "No…the last thing you said," Fili clarified.

"I said….I think I broke my neck," she sniffled. "I smashed it back against the rock wall when we fell. And now it hurts."

"Oh!" Fili looked a little startled. "I see."

"You wouldn't be walking if you'd really broken your neck," Oin cut in, and Karra was suddenly aware of the fact that everyone was staring at her. Her face reddened, and she stared at her feet, unwilling to look anyone in the face.

"I…I didn't mean it," she fumbled. "I mean, about hating this place. I'm glad I've come, really, it's just…." Her voice trailed off for a moment. "I guess I'm just tired, and with all that stuff…." She gestured back towards the goblin tunnels. "I'm sorry," she finally said simply. "I really am."

"We know, lass, we know," Balin said. "We understand." All the other dwarves nodded. "It was your first battle. We understand."

Karra had a sudden urge to throw herself into his arms and sob. Instead she sniffled, "Thanks," and looked down again, her flush growing. She shuffled back to the edge of the company, wishing everyone would stop staring at her.

The awkward moment was broken by a howl. Everyone looked up in surprise. Karra groaned.

"Not again," she grumbled.

"Out of the frying pan….." Thorin said grimly.

"….and into the fire," Gandalf replied, as if on cue. "Run!" he cried. "RUN!"

Karra's eyes widened. "Oh, no….no more running…._please…._" But she found herself pulled along with the company as they took off as fast as they could.

"Where are going?" Karra quavered.

"It's not a matter of where we're _going_," she heard Fili's voice in her ear, "but what we're running _from. _We're running from the wargs."

Karra didn't have the breath to make a comment about how obvious that last statement was.

Down the hill, over rocks and through trees, they ran. Karra developed a stich in her side, but when she stopped to catch her breath, she heard a howl that sounded like it came from right behind her. She jumped and almost instinctively put her hand on her sword. Clutching the hilt tightly, she stood frozen as a warg slowly approached her.

And then she panicked. With a little shriek, she took off as fast as she could from the warg that was now at her heels. She stumbled over several rocks, gasping and picking herself up as fast as she could, fleeing those snarling teeth. The warg snapped and snarled, sometimes way too close for comfort, several times almost catching the back of her shirt. She scrambled over rocks and boulders, briefly wondering how horribly far behind the rest of the company she was. She stumbled over another rock, and ran face-first into a tree. Backing up a little, she took a deep breath and prepared to flee again, only to find herself looking straight over the edge of a cliff.

Karra gave a little gasp and jumped back, only to realize that she was trapped between the edge of the cliff and a snarling warg. She had just drawn her sword desperately, looking back and forth between those teeth and the cliff and vaguely wondering which would be more desirable, when she heard Gandalf calling, "Up in the trees! All of you!"

She realized for the first time that she had actually managed to catch up with the rest of the company, but her thought was cut short by the snarl of the approaching warg. Shoving her sword back into its sheath, she scrambled up into the nearest tree as fast as she could, slipping on the bark several times, the warg snapping at her heels. She managed to grab a branch and pull herself up. The warg snapped at her again, and, gasping, she scrambled up onto a higher branch.

"Up! Up further!" she heard Balin's voice above her. He grabbed her and pulled her onto a higher branch, just as the warg leaped at her.

"Thanks," she gasped. She hugged the branch and tried to keep herself balanced as she watched the wargs and orcs approach. Sitting still for the first time in a while, it suddenly hit her how sore she was. She bit her lip as pain from the wound in her arm flooded over her. She loosened her hold on the tree trunk unconsciously, just as the tree began to shake. She heard hundreds of howls below her, and she looked down to see masses of wargs attacking the bottom of the trees. She slipped backwards, and with a gasp, caught the branch and found herself laying on it. She hugged the branch as hard as she could, realizing how quickly the tree was falling backwards.

"Jump!" Balin shouted, almost in her ear. She gritted her teeth and leaped to the next tree, wrapping her arms around the trunk, like a panda bear or something. After a couple of moments of gripping the tree trunk hard, she realized it wasn't falling. With a sigh of relief, she loosened her hold a bit and settled slowly and painfully onto the tree branch. She closed her eyes for a moment, one arm still gripping the tree trunk in order to keep her balance, and tried to catch her breath. Before she even had time to do that, she felt someone nudge her.

"Karra!" she heard Kili shout, and before she knew what was happening, a streak of fire came flying at her. Reaching out, she caught a burning pine cone, wondering briefly what she was supposed to do with it.

"Throw it!" Kili cried. "Throw it at the wargs!"

The pine cone was beginning to burn her fingers, and she was more than happy to drop it. Another came flying at her, and she tossed it as hard as she could into the crowd of wargs. With a laugh, she realized it was actually rather _fun. _She spun the next pine cone around several times before throwing it as hard as she could. She grinned as one of the wargs howled and jumped around as her pine cone hit it on the head and its fur caught on fire. Well, it could have been her pine cone. She liked to think her aim was that good. Grinning, she caught the next one and was just beginning to toss it when she felt a sinking sensation.

The tree was leaning.

And leaning.

And leaning more.

Karra suddenly processed what was happening. With a little cry, she grabbed the tree trunk and managed to wiggle to the other side, so she was sitting on top as the tree fell backward. She heard the startled cries of several other dwarves, but she was too focused on keeping her own balance and _not looking down _to see what was happening. She managed to grip a branch, which was now sticking straight up and made a nice hold, and carefully looked around her. She glanced down and regretted it. They were…well, she didn't even want to think about how high they were. After closing her eyes for a moment and getting her bearings, she opened them to see Thorin slowly getting to his feet. _What are you doing? _she thought for a moment. _You dummy! You're going to knock our whole tree off the edge of the cliff! _

Thankfully, _quite thankfully, _he didn't. As Karra watched, he charged forward, sword at the ready, silhouetted by the smoke and flames. She briefly noticed how utterly heroic he looked. Until the warg knocked him down.

For the first time, Karra noticed the warg, and the white orc that sat atop it. It grinned triumphantly and evilly, swinging its mount around towards the tree. Thorin slowly rose to his feet, facing down the warg and orc as they approached him again. He gave one mighty, but failed, slash at the warg's side. The orc swung its giant scepter (or _whatever _that thing was called). Thorin was thrown brutally to the ground as it slammed him in the face. Karra winced. Was he _dead_?

No. As the warg picked him up in its teeth, he managed to protest a bit, slamming his sword into the warg's head. The warg howled and threw him. He landed on a rock a couple of feet away, his head smashing against it. Karra sat up straighter and strained to see what was happening. She heard the orc speaking its horrible language, and apparently something was happening, for everyone let out a little cry. Carefully moving forward on the trunk of the precarious tree, Karra managed to see what was happening again. An orc had raised its ugly sword-thingy over what was apparently Thorin's body, and it looked like it was preparing to cut off his head.

Karra watched blankly. The idea that Thorin could be _killed _had never entered her head before. Regal, kingly, strong, distant Thorin….he could be defeated? Karra realized with a horrible cold feeling in the pit of her stomach that he _could _be defeated, and he _was. _And what would happen to _them_?

And the, out of nowhere, a little streak came flying towards the orc. Karra sat up straighter as whatever it was tackled the orc and the orc fell. Wait a minute…..was that _Bilbo_? Karra worked her way closer to the edge. What was _happening_?

Bilbo, for it was Bilbo, had apparently defeated the orc, for as Karra looked on, he stood over it for a moment, holding his sword. Karra remembered killing that first goblin with her own sword and knew exactly how he felt.

A moment later, every ounce of her wanted to scream, _Bilbo, look out! _The white orc, who was apparently the leader of the company of orcs, and two of his henchmen, were approaching Bilbo from behind. The next moment, he spotted them. He stood there in shock for a minute, and then, with what appeared to be the last ounce of bravery he had in him, he flipped his sword once, staring at the orcs. The pale one said something in his horrible language, and the three approached him menacingly, their intent obvious.

"Bilbo! No!" cried Karra desperately wanting someone to _do something. _And to her surprise, someone did. She caught her breath as three dwarves rushed forward, attacking wargs and orcs left and right.

Almost without thinking, Karra gripped her own sword and stumbled off the end of the tree trunk. With a cry, she rushed forward, slashing her sword back and forth, here and there, fighting through the mass of orcs and wargs. Quite surprisingly, she managed to shove her sword into a warg's head, and, as she yanked it out, the warg let out a howl of rage, and leaped towards her. She jumped backward, holding her sword at the ready in front of her. The warg snapped and snarled at her, but she jumped, tripped, and fell out of the way. Struggling to her feet, she desperately tried to slash forward, tried to land a fatal blow in its head, but failed. The thing leaped at her again, knocking her back down, snarling, its saliva dripping on her shirt. She gripped her sword for one final effort…..

And then the warg disappeared. For a moment, she just stared around her, wondering what had just happened. And then she noticed that the warg in question was flying above her, gripped in the claws of the biggest bird she had ever seen. In fact, it was bigger than the biggest bird she had ever seen. She just lay there for a minute, staring, her mouth open in shock. She began to notice that there were more of these….well, they looked like eagles. In fact, there were lots of them. They were attacking the orcs and wargs, catching them up in their massive claws, and throwing them off the cliff, and Karra was pretty sure they might be attacking the dwarves, too. And one was heading straight towards her.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt the great claws closing around her. And before she had time to struggle, the eagle lifted off, holding her tightly in its talons. She watched the ground fall away below her, and gulped. As the eagle flew on, she saw that it was soaring hundreds of feet above the ground. She scrunched her eyes shut and let herself go limp in the giant claws. She regretted it as sudden tingles of pain flew through her neck. She suddenly realized that the eagle wasn't supporting her neck, and that holding it up hurt, and letting it flop hurt, and she couldn't decide which hurt more. She managed to wiggle into a (somewhat) more comfortable position before the claws tightened.

They flew on for what seemed to be an eternity. Karra tried wiggling into one position, and then the other. Nothing was comfortable. The sun began to rise, and she realized that the last time she had slept had been two nights ago. More than anything, she just wanted to fall asleep. Her arm began to throb. Her neck felt very stiff. The sun was fully risen now, and still they flew on. Karra willed herself not to look down, and failed. The view _and _the height took her breath away. She stared down, enraptured, unable to look away. The height made her feel giddy. For a moment, she forgot her pain as she took in the view of mountains and clouds below her. There were moments when she wished she had a camera. She realized with a little laugh that there really wasn't anything she could do with a camera right now, held in the claws of an eagle as she was.

For what seemed hours, she watched the changing scenery as they flew on. After she didn't know how long, it seemed they were approaching something. As they came closer, Karra saw that it was a large pillar of sorts, of rock. They approached it, and Karra felt herself being gently set down. She collapsed onto the rock and put her head in her hands. More than anything, she just wanted sleep.

* * *

_Alright, I have a confession to make. I'm 16 years old, and this whole story, in fact, all of my fanfiction stories, have been under my parents' radar. They don't know I have an account on here, actually, they don't know I'm even writing or reading fanfiction. Lately it's been bothering me way too much, and I know I have to tell them. Every time I sit down the write or post something, I feel so deceptive. I'm not going to update anymore until I tell them, and after that, I can't guarantee I'll even be continuing this story. I sincerely apologize for this, and for sort of deceiving you all, making you think everything was fine with this story, and I was perfectly honest, when I wasn't. Again, I'm really sorry, please forgive me. :( _


	17. Chapter 17-Eagles and Braids and Bears

_**Author's Note: **__Well, here I am again, this time with an actual chapter. And no, I'm not starting a regular update schedule again. I just figured it's been so long since I've posted anything, I should let you all know I'm still alive. :D I only have about three more chapters finalized and ready to post, but I have a whole bunch more first drafts which I'm in the process of rewriting as fast as I can (believe me, you don't want to read my first drafts). I should hopefully start updating again in about a month or so (I know, I know, I said that last time). Anyway, here's a nice long chapter to keep you busy for a while. :D_

* * *

**Chapter 17-Eagles and Braids and Bears, Oh My**

Karra sat up slowly and looked around her. An eagle dropped the last dwarf on the rock and flew off with a cry. Karra got to her feet and found herself limping as she walked over to the rest of the group, who were gathered around Gandalf and...was that Thorin? She bit her lip and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her arm. Their leader was much more seriously injured; she shouldn't be worrying about her own minor injuries right now.

As Karra approached, she saw that Gandalf was leaning over an unconscious and bloodied Thorin. He passed his hand over Thorin's face and muttered what looked like some sort of healing spell. Thorin opened his eyes with a little gasp for breath. Karra bit her lip. He _was _seriously injured.

"The Halfling?" was the first thing he asked. His voice was weak.

"It's alright," Gandalf said, nodding happily. "Bilbo is here. He's quite safe."

For a moment, Karra saw enormous relief on Thorin's face, but it hardened once again as two of the dwarves helped him to his feet. Karra herself began to glance around at the others, counting them as she had heard Gandalf do at times. Reaching fifteen, she sighed with relief. Everyone was here, and everyone was safe. It was probably best not to think of _where _they were at the moment…hundreds of feet above the ground with only a skinny line of steps as the only way to get down….oh, darn it, she had thought of it.

"You!" Thorin's voice interrupted her thoughts. He was on his feet now, staring at Bilbo, his expression hard. "What were you doing?" he said harshly. "You nearly got yourself killed!" He approached Bilbo, still glaring. Karra winced. Didn't he even realize that Bilbo had saved his life? What was _he _thinking? "Did I not say that you would be a burden?" he continued. Bilbo was looking a little startled. "That you would not survive in the wild and that you had no place amongst us?" He was standing right in front of Bilbo now, and despite his short stature, he seemed to tower over him.

And then suddenly he relaxed. "I've never been more wrong in my life!" he said, his voice filled with emotion. And before anyone knew what was happening, he had enveloped the hobbit in a huge hug. The dwarves began to laugh happily, and Karra felt Fili's arm go around her shoulder. She grinned.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," Thorin said seriously, his hands on Bilbo's shoulders.

"Oh, no, I would have doubted me too," Bilbo replied, obviously trying to sound casual, and failing somewhat. "I'm not a hero or a warrior….I'm not even a burglar."

Karra grinned. _And I'm not even a full dwarf. What a motley company we have here,_ she thought with a laugh.

Suddenly the eagles let out a cry, and all eyes followed them as they wheeled away. As Thorin looked up, he seemed to catch sight of something, for he stepped forward, staring into the distance.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bilbo asked.

Karra followed everyone's gaze forward. The outline of a single, solitary mountain jutted above the horizon. "Is that…" she began.

"Erebor—the Lonely Mountain," Gandalf said. "The last of the great dwarf kingdoms of Middle-Earth."

"Our home." Thorin's voice was laced with emotion. Karra stared at the distant mountain. Her father's home—was it her home? It was her heritage. Was that enough to make it a home? She sighed.

Her thoughts her interrupted by the lively chirp of a bird. All heads followed it as it flew away. Another bird song was heard, and more birds began to fly towards the Lonely Mountain.

"A raven!" exclaimed Oin. "The birds are returning to the mountain!"

"That, my dear Oin, is a thrush," Gandalf corrected him with a smile.

"We'll take it as a sign, a good omen," Thorin said softly.

"You're right." Bilbo squared his shoulders. "I do believe the worst is behind us."

"You know," Karra said after a moment of thought, "a year ago, I wouldn't have believed in good omens. In fact, I wouldn't have believed in omens at all. But now…." Her voice trailed off, and she suddenly noticed that Fili's arm was still around her shoulder. "I guess I could believe in anything now," she finished, a little embarrassed by her speech. "I guess the main issue right now is how to get off this rock," she said, changing the subject with a little laugh.

"That ought to be easy enough." Gloin pointed to the narrow steps running down the side of the pillar of rock. Karra gulped. If that was the only way to get down, she had a problem. The height and steepness….what if she tripped….she shuddered. She bit her lip as the group of dwarves headed towards the steps, working her way towards the back of the group. Before she knew what was happening, she was putting her foot on the first narrow step. And the next…..and the next….and then she looked down.

She had to close her eyes for a minute. To her embarrassment, she found herself grabbing onto the arm of Ori, who happened to be in front of her. "Sorry," she mumbled. "Gotta get my balance." She cautiously set her foot on the next step, staring straight ahead of her.

The trip to the ground seemed to take forever. Karra looked down more than once, and regretted it every time. Of all the places the eagles had to set them, _why _did it have to be here? So high above the ground?

She felt an enormous relief when she finally stepped onto the nice, solid ground. Well, it wasn't like the steps hadn't been solid, but on the ground, there was no danger of tripping and falling to your death! She sat down carefully and leaned back against the rock, closing her eyes. She winced as little tingles of pain ran down her neck.

"I," she said firmly, "can't take one more step until I rest for a little bit. You can go on without me if you'd like."

"Oh, we wouldn't dream of going on without you," Kili said lightly. "You'd just follow us anyway."

Karra didn't deign to respond. She simply lay limp against the rock, reveling in the feeling of sitting still. Her neck still hurt, and her arm, she noticed, was caked with blood, but she could take care of that later. Right now she just wanted to…

She didn't know she'd fallen asleep until she woke up. The first thing she heard was the sound of voices. Rather loud voices. She opened her eyes and peeked around the rock….and received a bit of a surprise. She jerked back in shock and embarrassment. _No, no, no. I did not just see that. _

Apparently, the dwarves had decided that this was a good place to take a bath, and undressed and done just that. And Karra had happened to peek around and see them, bathing in the river. She flushed slightly. What a _horrible _moment to wake up. What was she supposed to do now? Just sit there until they decided to get dressed again and come find her? Hmph. This was terribly embarrassing.

Well…..a bath in the river _did_ sound like kind of a good idea. She could find a bend in the river, someplace not so open, where the dwarves couldn't see her, and do it herself. She carefully got to her feet and found herself limping. Still trying to ignore the pain in her neck, she tiptoed away from the rock, careful not to look in the direction of the dwarves.

She had to walk for a little while to find a place that was out of view of the group. Still, she felt a little uncomfortable completely undressing. The place felt so _open. _She decided to wash her injuries first.

She winced as the cold water hit the wound on her arm. It hurt a little to wash off the blood and grime, but it felt good to have it clean. She then washed the cut on her cheek. She finally just slipped into the stream without undressing.

She could have sat there forever, it felt so good. But she was half afraid something or someone other than the dwarves would find her, so she washed off as much dirt and grime as she could and stepped out of the stream, shaking herself dry. She sat there for a moment, wondering whether she should go back now or not. After all, she didn't want to catch the dwarves in the middle of their bath again. After a moment, she finally just stood up and headed back towards the rock.

She was met by Fili, who had apparently come to find her. He led her back to the rest of the company, who were pretty much finished bathing and dressed again.

"Ah, there she is!" exclaimed Bofur. "Where were you, lass?"

"I was…washing in the stream," she replied. "Just like you were. I thought it was a good idea."

"So you did see us," he said with a little laugh.

"Um well," Karra mumbled, "sort of, I mean I just kind of peeked around for a minute, so you know…" her voice trailed off. This was awkward…

"Perfectly fine, perfectly fine." Bofur clapped her on the back. "We understand. Don't be embarrassed."

Karra turned away. "Thanks," she mumbled. She abruptly plopped down against the rock, willing herself not to betray the pain that shot through her neck. There was nothing anybody could do about that, so there was no point in mentioning it, she reasoned. But she felt like she should do something about her other injury, so she said, motioning to the slash on her arm, "Does anyone have anything I can wrap this with?"

"Certainly." Oin produced a nice bandage-looking piece of cloth seemingly out of nowhere, and carefully wrapped her arm. Karra bit her lip to keep from crying out. It hurt worse than washing it had, but she wasn't going to admit that. The thick bandage on her arm made her feel horribly clumsy, but it was better than having an open wound.

The afternoon was a slow one. Everyone took the opportunity to rest up a bit, with several scattered conversations, and a whole lot of just sitting around. Normally Karra couldn't stand just sitting around, but this one time she didn't mind. The sun was high in the sky when everyone apparently seemed to think it was a good time to take a nap, and before long, they were all stretched out on the grass sleeping, except Karra, who had already had her nap, and volunteered to keep watch.

She just sat around for a little while, just being bored, watching, even though there was really no need to keep watch, and eventually fell to examining the sleeping faces of each of the dwarves. Her gaze lingered on Fili for a moment, and she happened to notice that his braids were a complete mess. She was suddenly seized with an irresistible desire to redo them.

Slipping quietly over to him, she sat down. Running her fingers gently through his hair, she unbraided the thick braids, and then began the task of re-braiding them. She had always been the hairstylist of her friends, and these braids were fairly simple.

She was on the third one when Fili snorted and opened his eyes. He stared at her for a moment, still waking up. Her fingers lingering on the braid she was just finishing, she stared back at him, eyes wide.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "And just what would you be doing?" he asked amusedly.

"I…um…." Karra stammered.

"You were playing with my hair, weren't you?" he asked, and Karra thought she detected a hint of a smile on his face. She flushed.

"Well, you braids looked so….so messy, so I just had to…." Her voice trailed off. She bit her lip. How had it not occurred to her that he might wake up? Ugh, this was just too awkward.

Fili sat up. He ran his fingers through his hair, and a slight smile grew on his face. "You do a good job of braiding," he said lightly. He grinned at her. "I couldn't exactly go around with half-finished braids, could I?" he asked with a laugh, as if asking her to finish.

"Do you mind?" she asked shyly.

"Certainly not," he replied.

Feeling horribly clumsy now that he could see what she was doing, she finished the third one and began work on the fourth one. She had gotten quite good at working with her own thick hair, but on someone else with equally thick, if not _thicker _hair, it was a different matter, and with a bandage on her arm no less. Finally finishing, she ran her fingers through his hair one last time and cheerfully declared, "Finished!"

Fili ran his fingers through his hair, feeling Karra's braids. "You do braid well," he said. "You should do it more often."

"Oh, I do it all the time," Karra began lightly, when the sudden realization hit her. "Oh! You mean…." Her voice trailed off. "Umm….nevermind." Ugh. Had she seriously almost asked if she could braid his hair more often? How did he not think she was intolerably awkward, she wondered sometimes. The suddenly thought hit her that his mustache needed redoing, too, but she didn't say anything. That would be slightly more awkward.

She was almost glad for the interruption when Nori and Ori walked into the group, each with a couple of large rabbits slung over their shoulders. Oh my gosh….food. It suddenly hit Karra how hungry she was.

Wait a minute….Nori and Ori were _returning? They had left? _Karra sat up straighter and bit her lip, realizing that she was supposed to be keeping watch. She had been too focused on doing Fili's hair that she had totally forgotten to keep watch. It was a good thing orcs hadn't snuck up on them or something! She found herself flushing hard. She hoped no one would call her on it.

Nori and Ori slung the rabbits off their shoulders and Gloin and Bombur set to making a fire. Oh gosh, Karra realized, everyone was awake now. How many of them had seen her braiding Fili's hair…or the fact that she hadn't been keeping good enough watch? She slipped to the back of the group, hoping no one would notice her.

The messy task of skinning the rabbits was over quickly enough. Certainly quickly enough for Karra; she didn't want to watch _that. _And boy, was she hungry. The smell of cooking meat just made it even worse, and she sat there watching it, her eyes wide. She was half glad everyone else was focused on the meal, too, and no one thought to call her out or tease her for….well, one thing or the other.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the meat was finished cooking. Ordinarily, Karra probably wouldn't have much liked eating wild rabbit, but she didn't really care now. There wasn't nearly enough for the whole group to eat their fill, but at least it was something, and they all felt significantly refreshed afterwards.

"It grows late," Thorin observed. "We should continue."

Karra nodded, stood up, and dusted herself off. For once they had no packs or belongings to gather, and it was kind of a relief. They could just _start, _and start they did. Gandalf led them away, saying, "We will not camp here in the open tonight. We must find somewhere a bit more protected."

The sun sank slowly behind the horizon as they walked, shedding orange light on the open plains. As it grew dark, they found themselves walking into a narrow path between some large rock formations. "We will camp here for the night," Gandalf stopped them.

As they were preparing to sleep, it dawned on Karra that they didn't have anything to sleep _on. _Of course, most of their packs had been taken by the goblins. But Karra was tired enough to sleep anywhere. She plopped down against a rock, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

* * *

"Wake up. Wake up!"

Karra opened her eyes and sat up. Was that Gandalf? She glanced around her. The dwarves were all in various stages of waking up, dusting themselves up, preparing to get going again. But it was still dark! Karra groaned and sat up. Why did they have to go _now_? Couldn't they have at least waited until morning?

"Orcs!" she heard the wizard cry. "The orcs are upon us!"

Karra jumped up quickly. _Not more orcs. No. No. No. _"Move along," Gandalf said urgently. "Get up, move. We must move quickly." Counting, making sure they were all there, he motioned for them to follow him. The filtered past him, not quite running, but almost running. Gandalf led them on through the narrow path between the rocks, practically radiating urgency. Karra, who was still waking up, was still trying to figure out exactly what was happening. She blindly followed the wizard, her mind reeling. The orcs were after them _again_? But how? This didn't make any sense, none of it. And her neck hurt from sleeping on the rocks and her arm was starting to throb. She just wished she could go back to sleep.

Finally, they stopped to take stock of their surroundings. In the path between the rocks, it was hard to see anything, but Gandalf sent Bilbo out to spy, saying, "Bilbo! You're our burglar. Climb to the top of the rocks to see how close the orcs are!"

Bilbo seemed nervous _(and why shouldn't he be? Karra thought)_ but he did as Gandalf directed, climbing out of sight to a lookout point to see what he could see.

The company waited anxiously for his return. Karra bounced from one foot to the other, leaned back against the cliff wall, and generally tried to appear casual, and generally failed. The dwarves were silent, a nervous silence Karra couldn't stand. She absently began to braid her hair, only to realize that she didn't have anything to tie it with, and pull the braid back out again.

After what seemed an eternity, Bilbo finally reappeared. He seemed a bit anxious, but Karra assumed it was nothing more than the usual anxiousness of having an _orc pack _so close to them.

"Too close," Bilbo said urgently. "A couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it."

"Have the wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked, his tone equally urgent.

"No, but they will." Bilbo furrowed his brow. "We have another problem."

"Did they see you?" cried Gandalf. "They saw you!" he exclaimed in despair.

"No, that's not it." Bilbo looked as if he wanted to say more, but Gandalf cut him off, saying,

"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material."

The dwarves chuckled and gave Bilbo appreciating glances. Karra giggled. She was momentarily distracted from the seriousness of the situation by the look on poor Bilbo's face. He was so frustrated. She could totally empathize with him. Dwarves could be so….nevermind. She was a dwarf.

"Will you _listen_?" cried the hobbit. "Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there!"

This struck everyone silent at last. They looked at each other worriedly. What could be worse than a pack of orcs and wargs? _More _trouble. That was all this journey seemed to be, trouble and danger and more of it.

"What form did it take?" asked Gandalf. "Like a bear?"

"Yes…" Bilbo began, then stopped as the sudden realization hit him that Gandalf had practically read his mind. He looked quizzically up at the wizard. "Y—yes," he said nervously. "But bigger. Much bigger."

"You knew about this beast?" cried Bofur, looking at Gandalf. Gandalf stepped back for a moment, thinking. "I say we double back," Bofur said, in conference with the company.

"And be run down by a pack of orcs," Thorin replied harshly.

Gandalf stepped back into the conversation now, saying, "There is a house—it's not far from here—where we might take refuge."

"Whose house?" asked Thorin. "Are they friend or foe?"

"Neither," replied Gandalf, in his typical, and totally Gandalf-like, way. "He will help us, or he will kill us."

"Oh, that sounds just _great!_" cried Karra. "And we're supposed to trust this person?"

"What choice do we have?" asked Thorin, turning to Gandalf.

A roar rolled through the air behind them. "None," Gandalf said matter-of-factly. "Run. RUN!"

And before Karra knew what was happening, they were running. They ran for what seemed like _hours, _before they finally stopped for breath. The sun was beginning to rise. For the first time, Karra noticed that they had exited the path between the rocks, and were now in a forest. How had they gotten there? Karra was almost too busy catching her breath to even think about it. She barely had to time to even do that before Gandalf called, "Come on!" and they were off again. A horribly loud roar split the air frighteningly near them, and Gandalf cried, "This way! Quickly!"

Karra gasped and tripped over a rock. _What was with her and tripping over rocks and crucial moments, _for goodness sakes. She steadied herself, and, wincing slightly, ran forward, following the others as best she could, only to be caught a little off guard as they exited the forest rather suddenly and found themselves on an open plain. A house surrounded by hedges rose up in front of them.

"To the house!" cried Gandalf. "Run!"

Fortunately for Karra, there weren't any rocks in the open, grassy plain, but she was just beginning to realize that her neck was hurting her terribly, and she found herself lagging behind the company…slowing…slowing….oh great, something was going to catch up to her…but she just needed to catch her breath….

"Come on, Karra!" cried Ori, pulling her by the hand. Karra groaned. They were almost there. Almost there. They ran through he hedges surrounding the house, and through some lush looking gardens that would have been quite nice had they not been fleeing orcs. Huge bees buzzed around them. Finally, they reached the door of the house, and stopped for a moment as they attempted to open it.

Attempted. But that seemed to be all they could do, attempt, for the door wouldn't budge. Bombur threw himself against it, and if something didn't break when _Bombur _threw himself it against it, it was strong, for sure. Pretty soon the whole company was banging on the door, trying to break it down. Another roar rolled through the air behind them.

"Open the door!" cried Gandalf.

"We can't!" cried Karra.

"Quickly!" cried Thorin, pushing his way through the mass of dwarves to the door, and pulling on the bolt as hard as he could. It opened with a snap. The company swarmed into the house, the huge bear at their heels. It shoved its gigantic head through the door, growling. Karra found herself pushing as hard as she could against the door, along with the other dwarves. The bear growled. The dwarves, as one, gave one final heave, and the door slammed shut, pushing the great head outside. Someone slipped the bolt, and the company gave a collective sigh of relief.

"What was that?" gasped Ori.

"That…..was our host," replied Gandalf dramatically.

"Hmm?" she said bewilderedly. "Our host is a _bear_?"

"His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer," Gandalf replied matter-of-factly.

Karra looked at him quizzically. "Hmm?"

"Sometimes he's a huge black bear, sometimes he's a great strong man," Gandalf explained. "The bear is unpredictable, the man can be reasoned with. However he is not overfond of dwarves."

Karra groaned. More trouble, more trouble. When would it all end? Couldn't she just have a little rest for once?

"He's leaving," said Ori, peeking through a crack in the great wooden door.

"Come away from there!" cried Dori, pulling the young dwarf away from the door. "It's not natural, none of it," he said desperately. "It's obvious he's under some dark spell!"

"Don't be a fool," laughed Gandalf. "He's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now," he continued, "get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight."

Karra winced. "Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly.

Gandalf nodded. "Quite sure," he replied, not sounding sure at all.

* * *

_Well, that chapter turned out pretty long. I swear, I think it's the longest in this story. I'm rather proud of myself. ;) It was fun figuring out what happened between the movies. And if you review, I'll give you Beorn. XD_

_Aaaaand, I have a question. That really needs to be answered. A couple of chapters from now, I someone calling Karra 'princess' in dwarven. I'll leave you to speculate who calls her princess, but it's probably not who you think. ;) Anyway, my question is, what is the dwarven word for 'princess' or something like it? I can't seem to find this _anywhere. _If I can't figure this out before I post that chapter, I'll just edit it out, but it would be nice. :) _


	18. Chapter 18-A Night at the Bear's House

_**Author's Note: **__Well, yay! I have ten more chapters after this one written, basically to just before the end of The Desolation of Smaug. So I'll finally be getting back to my regular update schedule for a while!_

* * *

**Chapter 19-A Night at the Bear's House**

"Hi there." Karra grinned and patted the nose of a little black and white pony that stood behind the bars of a stable. "You like me, don't you?" The pony snorted and stamped its feet. "Okay then," she said with a sniff. "I guess you don't." Still, she was unable to resist one last pat on its nose as she turned and walked away. Ponies were cute and nice and all when she didn't have to ride them. As a matter of fact, she rather liked this bear-man's little ponies—to pat on the nose and have mock-conversations with. Not to ride.

She wandered out of the stables and down a hallway, nearly running into a door at the end. Standing on tiptoe, she peered through a crack in the large wooden slats. Some bees hummed around in a large flower garden. A breeze ruffled the bushes. All in all, it looked rather pleasant. Karra raised the latch on the door and swung it open, stepping out in the cool afternoon air.

She tiptoed quietly around the garden, taking everything in. There were several kinds of flower bushes, along with a couple of trees placed ideally so as to provide just enough shade. One of the huge bees landed on her hair and she brushed it off carefully. They were certainly the biggest bees she had ever seen, and she certainly didn't want to get stung by one.

Finally, she sat down near a large rosebush with a sigh. Gandalf had told them to get some rest, and that was just what she was doing, she reasoned. The sun filtered through the leaves, casting spotty shadows. She yawned. She probably shouldn't be out here alone, but it was so nice…

"This would be a lovely place to take a nap," she murmured. What she wasn't expecting was an answer.

"Then why don't you?" the answer came. Karra jerked upright and her eyes snapped open.

"Who's there!" she cried, turning quickly. She let out a sigh when she saw that it was Fili. "You scared me."

"You've been with us this long, and you still don't recognize my voice?" Fili smirked as he sat down beside her.

"Well…" Karra began. "You know, the bear. I thought maybe…that…never mind." Saying it out loud made it sound kind of silly. Had she really thought he was a bear for a minute?

"And I suppose I sound like a bear." Fili raised an eyebrow.

Karra giggled. "Well…"

"I suppose it _could _be a complement," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching. "But I don't quite know what to say."

"You don't sound like a bear," Karra said with a laugh. "And if I had meant that, it probably wouldn't have been a complement. As far as I know, you've never growled at me. Does that make you feel better?"

"Quite." He looked around the garden for a moment. "You do know you probably shouldn't be out here alone. You know, the bear," he mimicked her.

"Well, what were you doing out here 'alone'?" she retorted.

"I was coming to find you."

"Oh." Before she could say more, a giant yawn took hold of her. "Ahhh," she mumbled. "I'm sorry…it's just that this place makes me sleepy…" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized what that sounded like. "Gosh, that makes it sound enchanted or something." She stopped. It was possible. Anything was possible here. "You don't think…"

Fili laughed. "Of course not," he said lightly. "Gandalf would have known if this place had some enchantment on it." He looked around once again. "Although I can see where you got the notion." Karra laughed as it dawned on her that this was the closest Fili would get to admitting that this garden was actually _pretty. _Gardens weren't his thing. She wondered vaguely if they had anything like gardens in Erebor.

"It is pretty peaceful here," she said dreamily. "I guess we should go in, though. The bear, you know…" Her voice trailed off and she absently plucked a rose from the rosebush beside her and handed it to Fili. A minute later it dawned on her what she'd just done and she began to flush.

He took it with one of those annoying smirks of his. _Oh great. _She willed herself not to flush even more, and failed. "For me?" he said with a grin. He set the rose back in her hand. "Oh no, I think you'd like it best," he said teasingly.

_I don't even think he realizes that was a romantic gesture. _

She grinned weakly back at him. _Don't blush. _She looked away for a minute, then trying to get rid of the awkward silence and regain the carefree banter they usually had, turned back with a mischievous smirk. "No," she said, leaning forward. "I think it would look best on you." She stuck the rose in his hair and grinned. "You look lovely."

He tugged at the rose, trying to extricate it from his thick dwarven hair. The thorns stuck.

"Oh! I'm sorry," she said. _He'd die of embarrassment if he had to go back in to the other dwarves wearing a rose in his hair. _The thought made her smile, though, and she half wondered if she could get away with leaving it there just to see the others' reactions. No, that was mean. "I'll help," she said, leaning forward.

She tugged at the rose and only managed to get it more stuck. "I'm sorry, I really am, I…" Her voice trailed off and she realized their faces were practically touching. For a moment, they just stared at each other, her fingers tangled up in his hair and his hand on her arm. He gently raised his hand and took hers.

"And what would you two be doing out here?"

Karra jumped at the voice and looked up to see Kili standing there. She quickly stood up and Fili followed her, his hand still in hers. "Resting," he replied. _How can he be so casual about it? _Karra dropped her gaze.

"Ah," said Kili with a teasing glint in his eye. "Well, you're wanted." He led them in the house, a knowing smile on his face. Karra glared at his back. What did it matter if they were holding hands or anything? It shouldn't mean anything to _him. _

Apparently the only thing they were 'wanted' for was lunch…or whatever meal it was now. The dwarves, the wizard, and the hobbit were seated around a large wooden table, with plates of food spread out in front of them, waiting for the three of them to return.

"What do you think this Bear-Horn person will think of us stealing his food?" Karra asked hesitantly, sliding into a seat. The food _did _look good, and she was hungry, but did they really want to make that giant bear that had chased them earlier mad?

"He will not grudge us a bit of sustenance, I am sure," Gandalf replied. "And his name is _Beorn. _I think he would appreciate it if you would remember that."

"Oh, okay." Karra grinned. "Well, if that's the case, let's dig in! I'm _starving._"

The dwarves barely took time to voice their agreement before 'digging in'. Karra caught Fili's eye momentarily from across the table, and it was then that she realized.

He still had the rose in his hair.

* * *

It was dark and a little eerie in Beorn's house. Karra wandered from room to room, trying to find a good place to sleep. It would be nice not to have to sleep by a snoring dwarf for once, she thought. Maybe once in a while she was entitled to her own room.

But it was so dark here. She shivered as she stepped into another room, this one empty. It was cold, too, and…well, a little spooky. She tiptoed into a corner and spread out her bedroll. She felt safer closer to the wall, and maybe if the house's dangerous owner returned, he wouldn't see her. Okay, that wasn't very likely, but she could comfort herself with the thought, right?

Just as she was crawling into her bedroll, she saw something move on the other side of the room.

She sat bolt upright with a small gasp of surprise. Scanning her eyes over the hay-covered floor, she saw the outline of another dwarf. She slumped back down with a sigh of relief.

"Is something wrong?"

Karra jumped again. She hadn't expected the dwarf to actually notice her. "Umm…no," she mumbled. "You just startled me, that's all." She crawled back into her bedroll sheepishly. "Who is it?" she asked absently.

"Me." It was then that she recognized the voice to be Fili's.

"Oh." She rolled over and caught his eye. "This is the second time today that you've startled me." A moment later, she realized how curt she must have sounded. "I mean, it's not a bad thing to be startled by you…" Okay, that sounded really awkward. "Well…"

Fili was laughing quietly. "I understand," he said. "You're nervous about the bear."

"Yeah," she said softly. "It's actually kind of nice knowing I'm not all alone here. It's kind of…spooky, I guess."

"Well, I won't startle you again," Fili said with a gentle laugh. "And I won't let anything else startle you either. You can go to sleep now."

Karra smiled and rolled over. The words _I won't let anything else startle you _echoed in her mind. She was safe with him here. She winced. How sappy did that sound? Oh well, it was true. With a sigh, she closed her eyes. She fell asleep that night with the knowledge that she was safe because he was there.

* * *

_Erg. Romanticness. I had to rewrite that chapter like four times to make sure it wasn't too sappy or cheesy. I hope you liked it._

_Anyway. Does anyone think I use too much dialogue from the movie? Like, in the earlier chapters. This has been bothering me a little lately, so I'm going to try to cut down on it in the future. Obviously by necessity of following the movie plot, I have to use _some_, but I'm trying to branch out a little more (i.e. skipping some scenes from the movie entirely, skimming over some, and…*insert evil laugh here* changing some. You have been warned. _;)_ )._

_If you review I'll give you a nice rose that you can stick in Fili's hair. _


	19. Chapter 19-Into Mirkwood

_**Author's Note: **__Okay, funny story about this chapter. As I said at the end the last chapter, I was getting a little tired of the movie, so I decided to write a scene that was more like the book (but put my own twist on it). So anyway, I wrote this chapter. And then, two days after I wrote the 'final' draft of this, we watched the Desolation of Smaug extended edition. (And if you haven't seen it, you must!) And I realized that, by complete coincidence, I had written a scene that was very closely resembled the added/extended one in the movie. _Complete_ coincidence. I had never seen that scene before or read a transcript of it or anything. So I decided not to rewrite it to fit the movie and just post it as is, just because. _

* * *

**Chapter 20-Into Mirkwood**

The room seemed empty. Karra opened her eyes and slowly scanned the hay-covered floor. Where was everyone? Sitting up, she peeked into the next room. It was empty too. With a sigh and a yawn, she crawled out of her bedroll. It was so quiet here. It was obvious there was no one anywhere near; the dwarves would have been making at least _some _noise. Surely they hadn't…no. They wouldn't pull a trick like they had at Rivendell again. She was one of the company now. They were probably just eating breakfast. Not that she was too happy about the fact that they hadn't woken her for breakfast, either.

She stood and tiptoed out of the room, heading in the direction of the table they had eaten dinner at last night. She walked quietly down a hallway and began to hear muffled voices. Turning and walking the direction of the sound, she found herself at a window. Were the voices coming from outside? She stood on her tiptoes and peeked through bottom of the window. What she saw made her draw back in surprise.

Gandalf and another figure stood talking in the garden. About half the company surrounded them. The stranger was tall, taller than anyone Karra had ever seen. She was sure he must be at least seven feet, if not more. The loose tunic he wore barely covered his muscular chest, and a longish scruffy beard spread over most of his face. _He looks like…_Karra tensed as the realization hit her. _He looks like a bear! This must be Beorn. _

She stepped back and considered her options. Should she just find a door and step outside? It seemed the rest of the company was already out there. Well…not the _rest _of the company, only about half. What was up with that? What if…no, she wouldn't think _that. _Gandalf wouldn't be conversing so casually with Beorn if he had killed half their company.

She tiptoed back down the hallway, hoping to find a somewhat unobtrusive entrance to the garden. Maybe she could just quietly slip out and join the company without anyone—least of all the bear-man—noticing. She was glancing around in search of a door when she ran right smack into something.

She gasped a little and stepped back, rubbing her elbow where she had hit it. Thinking at first that she had run into a wall, she turned and started the other direction, when the wall grunted. She jumped again and turned back. It wasn't a wall—it was a dwarf! And Fili no less.

She apologized quickly, feeling slightly relieved to find him standing here alive and unhurt in the hallway. She hadn't seen him or Kili in the group outside, and she had to admit she _had _been a little bit worried. "So what exactly is going on?" she asked after both had recovered from the impact.

"Beorn is here," Fili replied. "Gandalf's talking to him now."

"I know that; I saw them out in the garden," Karra replied. "But why isn't everyone out there?"

"Gandalf told us to come out in groups of twos and threes," Kili said, stepping out of nowhere. "So as not to shock him with the large number of our company all at once, he says," he continued, making an almost perfect imitation of Gandalf speaking. Karra giggled.

"Okay, I was wondering why only half the company was out there," she said. "So where are we? Are we next or anything?" She narrowed her eyes. "And why didn't you wake me up?"

"We weren't all awake when he came. And," Fili shrugged, "you looked tired."

"We were to come out next," Kili answered her other question. "But Fili was hoping to find you." There was a glint of something mischievous in his eye and Karra glared at him. Fili opened his mouth to say something and Kili cut him off. "That's what you said," he said, trying to sound innocent. "You said you wanted to find Karra."

"Anyway," Karra said, changing the subject. "Are we still coming out next?"

"I believe so." Fili led her and Kili further down the hallway. Karra couldn't swallow her nervousness. What would Beorn think of them? From the brief glimpse she had gotten, he had seemed fine with the rest of the company, but…she tried not the think about it. Eventually they reached another door that seemed to lead out into the garden. Fili put his hand on the doorknob and turned.

"….as I was saying," she heard Gandalf as they entered the garden from the back, "they were traveling through the Misty Mountains. Well, everyone knows how dangerous some of those passes can be during a thunderstorm, and this was not only a thunderstorm. It was a thunder battle." He paused momentarily, then continued. "And with such a large company traveling together, and the risk of getting separated in the dark on those cliffs—"

"I would hardly call five a large company," Beorn rumbled. At that moment, Fili, Kili, and Karra stepped forward. All heads turned towards them.

"Fili at your service," Fili said with a bow.

"And Kili," said Kili, following suit. "At your service."

"Karra," Karra said shyly. "At…at your service." She gave a neat little curtsy and congratulated herself on well she had handled that.

"There, you see?" Gandalf said. "A large company indeed."

"I suppose," the large man said, examining the three newly introduced dwarves thoroughly. Karra wanted to shrink back from his gaze, but tried to stand confidently. She didn't want him thinking that dwarf women were cowards. All the same, she felt legs getting wobbly when his eyes rested on her and stopped. "You travel with a woman in your company?" he asked slowly.

Karra resisted the urge to slap her hand to her forehead. _Not this again! _How many times had they gone over this exact same thing with just about every stranger they met? What was so weird about a dwarf woman, for goodness sakes?

"That, I'm afraid," Gandalf said, "is a tale of its own, and one we must tell another time. As I was saying," he continued, and Karra let out a sigh of relief, glad they weren't going to keep talking about her, "the thunderstorm. The company did not wish to risk getting separated on the mountain passes, so they decided it would be best to find shelter. But it is often hard to find caves in those mountains that are safe and large enough to hold a dozen dwarves—"

Karra couldn't keep her mouth shut. "A dozen?" she spoke up. "But—"

"Quiet, girl," Gandalf snapped, waving a hand at her. Karra was half surprised to find that he hadn't put some spell on her. "I know my numbers." She snapped her mouth shut and stepped to the back of the group. Maybe she could just disappear now.

But before Gandalf could continue speaking, Beorn began to laugh, a great, rolling laugh that was surprisingly pleasant. "You say you know your numbers," he said, still laughing. "But I have never heard eight called a dozen!"

"Ah, well, you see—" Gandalf began, but was interrupted by the entrance of a couple more dwarves—the rest of the company excluding Thorin, actually. The wizard looked at them in surprise.

"I have never heard fourteen called a dozen either," the great man said. Gandalf closed his eyes momentarily and looked away. _Save me from the impatience of dwarves, _he seemed to be saying. He had obviously not intended the rest of the company to show up so quickly. Karra stifled a little nervous giggle. She caught Fili and Kili grinning.

"It was only a rough estimate, you see," Gandalf said, a little uncomfortably it seemed. "One dozen, two dozen, these things are sometimes easier to say then fourteen, fifteen." He looked at the newly arrived dwarves. "Well, now that you're here," he said impatiently, "you might as well introduce yourselves."

One by one the dwarves stepped forward and introduced themselves, each with a bow and an "At your service." Beorn watched sternly, but Karra thought he could see the corners of his mouth twitching in a slight smile. This man was certainly a surprising contrast to the giant bear that had nearly attacked them yesterday.

"Well, _as I was saying,_" Gandalf continued, "Thorin was leading them through the mountain passes—"

"Thorin you say?" Beorn interrupted him again. Karra grinned at Gandalf's look of mild irritation. Everyone else seemed to be messing up his plan, whatever his plan was. "I do not recall being introduced to a Thorin," Beorn said.

At that moment, Thorin appeared in the garden. Karra couldn't help marveling at how he managed to make a grand entrance in the most unlikely of circumstances. She could just imagine some sort of royal music playing as he stepped out the door and presented himself proudly to the large man.

"Allow me to introduce you to our leader, Thorin Oakenshield," Gandalf said, seeming glad that all the dwarves were finally here and not hiding in the house trying to mess up his plan. Thorin gave a slight bow and didn't say anything about being 'at your service'.

"And now, I presume, I have finally met all of your company," Beorn said, and this time the twitching at the corners of his mouth was unmistakable. "Go on, go on with your tale."

And Gandalf did. With no further interruptions, he followed the dwarves through the goblin tunnels, onto the backs of the eagles, and through the orc chase. "And so," he concluded, "being pursued by orcs as we were, and needing rest and sustenance, we stopped here, knowing no orc dared approach this house while you lived here." He looked up at the bear-man, as if to say, _and that's that. _

"I do not usually take kindly to strangers showing up at my home unannounced," Beorn said. "For usually such strangers are not of the friendly kind. But you say you were being pursued by orcs. I am not overly fond of dwarves, but I am considerably less fond of orcs." He turned and began to walk towards his door. "Come in. You will have a good breakfast here."

_Just like we had a good dinner yesterday, _Karra thought. _I wonder if he knows. _But this time she kept her mouth shut and followed him inside. Gandalf seemed to have done a good job of getting them in Beorn's good graces, and she wouldn't want to be the one to mess that up. Not that she hadn't done that before.

About an hour later, they were all seated at the table in the bear's house, being served by the bear himself—still in human form, of course. Karra had to admit, she was a little curious about what this shape-shifting thing looked like when he did it, but she didn't really want him to actually _do _it, because that would probably mean he was angry at them. She had been nervous the entire meal that one of the dwarves would say something wrong and make him mad, and she had a bit of trouble actually enjoying the good food that was being given to them. So far everything had gone well, and Beorn didn't seem to be an unreasonable sort of person, but still. Karra was half glad she was sitting on the corner of the table farthest from him.

Gandalf and Thorin had led the main conversation. Being pursued by orcs was apparently to their benefit now. The bear-man seemed much more likely to help them since his enemies were their enemies. Karra somehow managed to be simultaneously relieved and disappointed when the meal was over. She found Beorn interesting and fascinating, even if she was a little afraid of him.

* * *

"No, thank you," Karra said firmly. "This time I get my _own _pony." She shook her head and grinned at Fili. "But thanks for the offer."

"I only wanted to make sure you were safe," he said, but his words held a hint of teasing. "After all, you've never ridden alone before."

"Pff." Karra cut him off with a wave of her hand. "You think my riding my own pony wouldn't be _safe_? You have a low opinion of my riding skills." She glanced at Beorn, who stood in the background watching their preparations for departure and chatting with Gandalf. "I have to say," she said in a low voice, "I'm kind of sorry to be leaving so soon. I mean, don't you think we could have at least stayed and rested for at least one day?"

"My uncle is anxious to get going," Fili said, looking away. "Every day is one day closer to Durin's day."

Karra nodded and continued saddling the pony that she was to ride. After a minute of fumbling with the cords, she realized she didn't know how the saddle worked. "Um…Fili?" she asked, flushing slightly. "I need some help here…"

He grinned at her and walked over. He had the pony saddled within a couple of seconds. She sighed. How was he so good at everything? All the same, she smiled and nodded her thanks. Everyone seemed to be mounting their ponies.

"Go now, and go quickly," Beorn said. "Your hunters are not far behind." Karra made an attempt to swing up into the saddle—and failed.

"Umm…a little help over here?" she said, wincing at her own awkwardness. Fili rode by and grabbed her hand, and before she knew what was happening, she found herself sitting in the saddle behind him. "I needed help mounting my own pony, thank you very much!" she exclaimed. "Not yours." But they were already riding off, leaving her little already saddled pony behind. She sighed. She had just lost her only chance to have her own pony for once. Oh _well. _

They rode faster than Karra had ever remembered riding before. Their little ponies galloped across the plains and through much scenery that she didn't have much time to admire, though she was sure it was pretty. After a while she began to find bouncing along on the back of a pony nearly unbearable, as her neck was still very stiff and very sore, though some of the pain was beginning to subside. She looped her arms around Fili's waist and buried her head in his shoulder in an attempt to soften some of the impact; it didn't really work. But he didn't seem to mind, so they rode along like that for a good while.

The air was pleasant and rather cool, and even the wind rushing past them didn't really bother Karra. It was easy to forget for the moment that they were on a dangerous quest and would soon be entering an enchanted forest. Until they began to see that borders of the forest, and even from a distance it looked ominous. Finally, they rode almost directly up to the edge of the trees. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood," Gandalf called out, and the company came to a stop.

Karra resisted Fili's attempt to help her down off the pony. "No thanks, I can do this myself," she retorted, sliding off the saddle and promptly catching her foot on a rock. Fili grinned. She glared at him. He turned, and she followed his gaze to see the silhouette of a large bear sitting on a distant cliff.

"Let the ponies loose," ordered Gandalf. "Let them return to their master."

Karra was just beginning to unload their supplies off their pony when Kili walked over. "Let me help you with that," he said with a smirk, and without so much as asking her permission, cut in and did it for her.

"What was that about?" she exclaimed.

"Well, you didn't know how to saddle it, so I thought…" He shrugged and grinned, leaving the sentence unfinished. "You're always having trouble with ponies, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Karra said with a glare. "And you're always having trouble quitting teasing me, aren't you?" Well, it wasn't the best comeback, but it was the best she could think of at the moment.

"I will help her with the ponies, little brother," Fili cut in. Karra was a little grateful that for once _Fili _wasn't teasing her too. Kili gave them both a little mock glare and walked away. Karra glanced at Fili and then at the forest.

"So we're actually going in there?" she asked, changing the subject. "I mean, it doesn't look too friendly…"

"We've traveled through less friendly places than a forest," Fili pointed out, and Karra acknowledged him with a grin. _Like the goblin tunnels, maybe?_ But still…this forest looked creepy, like it was watching all of them and laughing at them for daring to enter it. Great, like she needed that thought in her head. She sort of wished they could take the ponies with them on their trip through the forest. It might make it more bearable, somehow less creepy, and maybe quicker. But it was no use wishing for something she couldn't have. Fili had finished unloading their supplies and was letting the pony go. It galloped away across the plain as if it were glad to get away from the dark mass of trees. Karra sighed and looked away from the branches overhanging the path—if that entrance could be considered a path. If they had to go in there, at least she wouldn't make a big deal of being nervous about it.

"Not my horse," Gandalf's voice interrupted her thoughts. She glanced his direction and saw him beginning to mount his horse.

"But surely you won't be taking your horse with you?" one of the dwarves exclaimed. "We were to return them—all of them—to their owner!"

"No, I won't be taking my horse with me through Mirkwood," Gandalf said. "Because I won't be going through Mirkwood."

"You're leaving?" cried Karra. "You aren't going with us?"

"I would not do this unless I had to," Gandalf said, and there seemed to be a hint of regret in his voice. "Be on your guard." His eyes swept over the group of dwarves, all of whom were watching him now. "This is not the Greenwood of old. The air is heavy with enchantment and illusion. Do not leave the path, or you will never find it again. And do stay clear of a certain river, dark and deep; it is enchanted also, and if you drink of it or touch the water, it will send you into a deep sleep from which you may never wake. Beorn warned me of this but neglected to warn you. Farewell," he finished, turning his horse. "Don't forget!" he called back as he rode away. "Stay on the path!" And with that, he was gone.

The company turned towards the foreboding forest. No wizard, no ponies, nothing but a group of dwarves and one small hobbit. Karra squared her shoulders and tried to look confident. Whatever happened, she was ready. Maybe if she thought that enough, she actually would be ready.

* * *

_I have got to stop putting these author's notes at the end of chapters. I'm running out of things to say._


	20. Chapter 20-Strange Enchantments

_**Author's Note: **__Well looky there. Another scene from the book. _

* * *

**Chapter 20-Strange Enchantments**

"The path goes this way."

Karra stared at the trees ahead of her, trying to collect her muddled thoughts into something coherent. Why was it so important which way the path went? Oh yeah…the path. Don't leave the path. Somebody had warned them not to leave the path. The wizard. What was his name? Silly her. She should be able to remember the wizard's name.

She finally just quit trying to collect her thoughts and focused on staying on the path. If she let her thoughts wander it was easy to simply walk right off into the seemingly endless forest. It was often hard to tell the difference between the path and the underbrush, and the air in the forest….the air in this forest…what about the air in this forest? She had been thinking something, but she had lost it yet again. Losing her attention for a moment, she stumbled forward and nearly fell to the ground.

She caught herself, trying to bring her attention back to the matter at hand. Follow the path. Keep your feet on the path. Stay on the path. She kept her eyes steadily fixed on the dwarf ahead of her. She realized vaguely that if he strayed from the path, so would she. She pressed her hands to her head with a groan, trying to clear her thoughts. "Get a grip," she mumbled. "This is silly. You can't let the forest affect you like this. Wake up!" she cried, realizing a minute later that everyone had heard her. All eyes turned her direction. "Nothing," she mumbled. "Just trying to get my sanity back. This forest…it's so…sleepy…like the air is sleepy." As if to prove her point, she let out a large yawn. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Time enough to stop for the night," Thorin said gruffly. "We will stop here, it's as good a place as any. Get some sleep, everyone." Karra sighed. Maybe stopping and resting a bit would clear her mind.

"Karra," Thorin ordered, "you will take the first watch." Karra nodded, not replying. She didn't have the energy to reply. Instead she sat with her head in her hands, trying to reclaim her lost thoughts. This was horrible. This forest…this sleepy forest…would it ever end? It was enchanted, there was no doubt about that. Would it keep them all wandering in circles until they died, never getting out, never feeling the clear air again…

She jerked upright, squeezing her eyes shut. _Don't think that! _Darn it, now the forest was planting unpleasant thoughts in her head. And it was worse when she had to keep watch at night. Everything was just so creepy here.

She turned around to see that everyone was settled and nearly asleep. She felt a shiver run down her spine. How much time had passed? How long had she been sitting here? What time _was _it, anyway? Was it even nighttime? What was happening in the outside world? It was beginning to seem as if the outside world didn't even exist anymore.

Trying to situate herself in a more comfortable position on the forest floor, she felt an unexpected stab of pain in her arm. Wincing, she settled herself back down carefully and unwrapped the bandage. Even though it was dark, she could see that the wound didn't look much worse than the last time she'd looked at it. But it didn't look better either. It was red and slightly swollen and when she touched it she felt a stab of pain. Opening her pack, she pulled out her water skin and poured some water into her hand. She hated to waste water like this, but if she didn't keep her wound clean she was afraid it would get infected—if it wasn't already. She washed it as best she could with what little water she could bear to use and rewrapped it, wincing slightly with the pain.

She shivered. It was suddenly very cold. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she stared out into the dark recesses of the forest, trying not to think of the eyes that were probably staring at her from between the trees. She was sure they were there; she had seen them before. She shivered again. It really was cold here. She felt odd little tingles run up and down her spine. "Brrr," she muttered.

And then she felt something being draped around her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize that it was a coat. "Thanks," she murmured, not having the energy to turn and see who it was that had given her the coat. She just pulled it closer about her. It did help a little. She stared out into the darkness again, trying to find something to think about other than the forest creatures that she knew were staring at her. She could think about home. Yeah, that sounded good. Her home seemed, in this forest, almost more real than the world she was in. She leaned back and stared up at the sky as if she could see it, trying to remember…she never wanted to forget her home…

"_Why do you always have that key, daddy?" She stared up at him and reached her little fingers towards the key that hung around his neck. _

"_You will know more about that when you are older, little melhekh nathith," he said, laughing and patting her on the head. That was one of his little nicknames for her—he told her it meant princess. She giggled. _

"_Tell me a story, daddy," she said plaintively, looking up at him. She knew he couldn't resist her big, eager brown eyes. _

_He stroked her hair with a gentle laugh, but there was a hint of wistfulness in his voice as he began. "Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom, one of the greatest in the world, ruled by a great king. It was happy, healthy, and prosperous, until one day…"_

"Karra."

Karra started and her eyes popped open. Someone had tapped her on the shoulder, she realized. Had she...oh gosh, she'd fallen asleep! And when she was supposed to be on watch! She sat up quickly. "I'm sorry!" she cried. "I just…I didn't mean to! I…" Her voice trailed off and she saw Fili standing there. His face was serious.

"You know, something or someone could have attacked and killed us all while you were asleep," he said quietly.

Karra dropped her gaze. "I'm really sorry," she mumbled. "I…I don't know what to…" She looked back up at him. "I'm sorry?" she said. He just looked at her for a moment, then a grin broke the serious expression and he began to laugh.

"I've been keeping watch for you for the last hour," he said. "Go on, I'll take your place." Relieved, Karra grinned back at him.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I don't know exactly what happened. I mean, I've never fallen asleep on watch before…"

"Don't worry about it," Fili cut in. "I won't tell Thorin." Karra, still a bit stiff from sleeping sitting up, got to her feet, realizing as she did that she still had the coat draped around her shoulders.

"Oh," she mumbled, slipping it off. "Whose is this?" Fili just looked at her for a moment, and realization dawned on her. "It's yours, isn't it? You gave me your coat?" He nodded slightly, a gentle smile on his face. She tried to hand it back to him. "Um…you can have it back." She realized a moment later how ungrateful that must have sounded, and stood there awkwardly with the coat draped over her arm.

Fili smiled again. "You can keep it. It _is _cold here."

"Oh. Thanks," Karra murmured. "Um…well…goodnight." She turned quickly and walked back over to the fire, slipping into her bedroll with a sigh. Now she really could go to sleep. And dream about her father again.

* * *

Karra stared blankly out at the trunks of the trees surrounding them. Could it only have been last night that she had fallen asleep on watch? It felt like two weeks. Maybe it had been two weeks. It was so hard to keep track of time here anyway. Maybe they had been in here for a year and didn't know it. Maybe they had missed their only chance to find the hidden door. Maybe…

"Karra. Your turn to lead."

Karra jumped and snapped out of the thoughts. They had been taking turns leading all day…it was so easy to lose your concentration and just wander off that it was best to switch out every so often. With a sigh, Karra took her place at the head of the line. No sooner had she done that than her foot caught on a rock and she found herself sprawled on the ground. She tried not to wince as she felt a flash of pain through her tender arm.

"Are you alright?" asked Fili, apparently having seen the quick look of pain that flashed across her face.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said hastily, getting to her feet. There was no way she was going to admit how painful the wound on her arm really was; not after she had been keeping it a secret for this long. Making sure to keep her eyes on the path, she continued on, trying not to make a big deal of her clumsiness.

Soon it became almost mechanical. One foot in front of the other, keep your eyes on the path, don't be clumsy, one foot in front of the other. She had pretty much ceased all thought when something unexpected happened. She was walking along, her eyes dutifully on the path, when suddenly there was no path. She was looking straight down into a deep, dark river.

She jumped back. "Wait, everyone stop!" she cried, throwing her arms out to keep the nearest dwarf from walking past her and into the river. Everyone stopped rather too quickly, and someone ran into her. "There a…a river," she explained.

One of the dwarves stepped forward and stared at the dark water. "This must be the river that the wizard warned us about," he said. Karra couldn't help a little wry grin. So she wasn't the only one who kept forgetting the wizard's name.

"How are we to get across?" questioned Fili.

_At least we're not all too befuddled to ask valid questions…._

"It appears that there was once a bridge," observed Balin. It was true. Karra poked at the rotting timbers with her foot.

"A lot of good that will do," she said scornfully. "A bridge isn't any good if you can't cross it."

There was a moment of silence as they all stared gloomily across the foreboding river.

"Well this isn't going well," Karra said presently. "C'mon, guys! Can't we think of any way to get across?"

"Wait…wait..." Bilbo peered through the gloom to the other side. "I…I think I see something."

"What do you see?" someone exclaimed. For some reason Karra just couldn't think of his name. Bif…Bo…Bom…it started with something like that. He had a hat….augh! This forest! First the wizard, and now a dwarf? Would she forget her own name next?

"…a boat!" Bilbo was saying. "I do believe there's a boat over there."

"Well, that's a development," Karra said dryly. "But it had to be on the _other_ side."

There was another short moment of silence. Then Kili reached into his pack and pulled something out.

"I can throw a rope," he offered. Karra nearly burst out laughing at the _please-let-me-help _expression on his face. He gave her a look that pretty much said, _what's so funny? _She suppressed a grin. It certainly couldn't hurt.

Someone mumbled something about the boat being tied, but Kili ignored him and tied a loop in the rope and threw it anyway. It landed in the water with a splash and several dwarves groaned.

"Let me try, brother," Fili offered, taking the end of the rope and pulling it back in, careful not to touch the end that had touched the water. He threw it again, and this time it caught. But as he pulled, it slid loose and he found himself pulling in a piece of wood instead of the hoped-for boat. Just as he was gearing for another throw the boat began to drift. Not taking much time to actually aim, he just desperately tossed the rope in the general direction of the boat before it drifted out of their sight down the river and disappeared forever.

The rope caught, but just barely. "Quick, pull!" ordered Thorin. Several other dwarves including Karra grabbed the rope and tugged as hard as they could. For a moment it seemed the rope would slip off and leave them with no way to cross the river, but finally they managed to maneuver the boat back the bank of the river.

For a moment they just stared at the old, dilapidated thing. It didn't even look like it could reasonably still be floating. "Who will cross first?" someone eventually asked, a bit hesitantly.

"I will," Thorin said. "And Bilbo and Fili, you will go with me. Gloin, Balin…" And he divided them all up into groups of twos or threes, for that was pretty much all the boat looked like it could hold. Karra was last, with Bombur. _Great. I get to ride with the sinking hazard. _

Karra plopped down on the bank and watched as the one by one, the groups piled in and rode across. Between Bilbo and Fili they had managed to come up with some sort of system to hook the rope to a tree across the river and use it like a pulley. Karra wasn't even sure how it worked, but evidently it did. She rested her head in her hands and stared out into the forest. It would take a while for everyone to cross…maybe for just a minute….

Her head jerked upright and she opened her eyes. Bombur was the only other dwarf left on this side of the river, and he seemed to be ready to board the boat. She jumped to her feet and ran forward. How long had she been asleep?

She let Bombur help her into the boat. Ordinarily she probably would have protested that she was perfectly capable of stepping into a boat herself, but this time she was too nervous about falling into the enchanted river. She could feel the boat sink a little in the water as Bombur stepped in after her and put his full weight down. She stood nervously as the boat was pulled forward. She couldn't shake the feeling that as the last group across, something bad was bound to happen.

The boat was pulled up safely on the other side with no incident. Fili and Kili reached forward to help Karra out, and just as she had grabbed Kili's hand, something _did _happen. There was a sudden crash in the underbrush, and a large white shape appeared out of the trees. Turning suddenly, Kili let go of Karra's hand and set an arrow quickly on his bow. Karra found herself slipping—down the bank—towards the river. With a little gasp of fear, she threw her hand desperately upward, grasping for anything. She felt someone grab it, and then she was sitting on the bank, breathing hard.

Taking a moment to recover her senses, she heard a noise in the distance. Glancing its direction, she saw something or someone fleeing through the trees. It must be that…well, whatever it was that had just run by and almost gotten her drowned. She glanced back towards the water, wondering vaguely what would have happened had she actually….

Wait.

What?

Bombur! "Bombur!" she cried. "Bombur fell in! He's drowning!"

All heads turned her direction. And then everything was happening at once. "Throw him the rope!" someone shouted. A rope flew past her, and she almost had to jump out of its way. It fell with a splash beside Bombur. His hand reached weakly up and grabbed for it. With a little skillful manipulation, Fili managed to hook the rope around his wrist and several of the dwarves tugged. Bombur slid up the bank, apparently still half conscious, for he struggled a little, not helping the dwarves that were hauling him in the least. Finally they managed to pull him up onto the bank, panting.

He began to snore. He was totally unconscious now, and no amount of poking or tapping jabbing one's foot into his side would wake him. They all just stood there for a moment, staring at the sleeping form.

"Why did it have to be Bombur?" Oin groaned presently. "Now we'll have to carry him!" That produced a groan from everyone, but they began to scurry around looking for something they could carry him on. Finally they managed to pull together a rickety stretcher from some sticks and cloth and stuff they found in their packs. And then they were moving again. Karra was glad she didn't have to carry the stretcher first, but she was sure her turn would come.

And it did. Over the next couple of days everyone had their fair share of carrying the heavy stretcher. It made for slower going, and if possible, the days began to seem even longer. Karra was beginning to seriously wonder if they were really just going in circles, hopelessly lost with no way out. Were they even on the path anymore? Sometimes she forgot there even was a path.

And so it went, on and on into the endless forest.

* * *

_A little shout-out to my reviewer Knowing Grace for helping me with that dwarven word. It means 'king's daughter', which was the closest thing I could find to 'princess'._


	21. Chapter 21-Bad Things Happen

_**Author's Note: **__Well, I feel like I've been kind of neglecting Bilbo lately. So here you go, more Bilbo. _

* * *

**Chapter 22-Bad Things Happen**

Karra stared at her feet as she plodded along the path. She had given up looking through the trees, trying to find some indication that the world outside still existed, as there never was any, and hadn't been for…well, Karra didn't know how long it was since she had last seen the sun. The only evidence that there was a sun anymore was the fact that there was light in the forest. And even that was dim enough to make one sleepy.

She didn't see the tree until she ran into it with a jolt. Peeling herself from the hard, poky bark with a wince, she looked around and realized that she didn't see anyone. She looked at her feet and realized she wasn't standing on the path anymore, either. She was just opening her mouth to call out when she heard a noise.

"Are you alright?" She recognized the voice to be Bilbo's before she turned to see him standing there. She sighed with relief.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she mumbled, not wanting to admit that she had just slammed headfirst into a tree and almost gotten lost. She could be so terribly clumsy, and this forest only made it worse. She further proved this point by catching her foot on a rock and nearly falling into the hobbit's arms. "I'm fine," she said again with a little embarrassed laugh. She let Bilbo take her hand and lead her back to the rest of the group, glad he that seemed to know where he was going.

"Karra." Bofur—oh good, she had actually remembered his name this time—tapped her on the shoulder. "Your turn." Without so much as asking if she was ready, he unceremoniously handed her his corner of Bombur's stretcher and walked on ahead.

"Well, thanks!" she called after him, situating the stretcher on her arm. It wasn't like he could have helped her position it or anything.

Walking along, she tried not to grumble. If there was one thing the entire company was good at, it was complaining, and she tried not to add too much of her voice to that chorus. They groused about everything, from the growing lack of food to having to carry Bombur's heavy stretcher. Karra had tried to reason that they didn't have to feed him, so they shouldn't be complaining about both things, but no one listened. They just kept complaining.

"We stop here for the night." Thorin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"We stop _where _for _what _night?" she heard Kili grumble. "I can't even tell whether it's night or not." She jabbed him in the side with her free elbow, whispering,

"Well, don't try to convince him _not _to stop!"

It felt good to be able to put her corner of Bombur's heavy stretcher down and rest. Considering her work done after setting up her bedroll, she plopped down against a tree and began to unwrap the bandage on her arm. Sometimes it seemed as if it grew more painful every day, but perhaps that was just another illusion of this forest.

The wound didn't look any worse, but then again, it didn't look any better. She sighed and reached for her water flask to wash it again, but decided against it. She probably shouldn't be using their dwindling water supply for something like this. So with another heavy sigh, she rewrapped the bandage again, wishing she had another, cleaner one to replace it with.

She had just finished when she heard her name being called. She wandered over to the campfire for what she supposed was dinner, though by now, it was little more than a handful per person. She took bites slowly, trying to fool herself into thinking it was more than it was. Of course, that never worked. It tasted stale, too.

The fire began to burn low, its flames dulled by the air in this forest. Apart from the occasional one-or-two word exchange, the group was silent. The dwarves eventually began to drift off to their bedrolls, and some fell asleep around the fire. Karra found herself not wanting to get too far away from the flames. It was a bit chilly and she liked the security the light gave her. So, tiptoeing over to her bedroll, she dragged it near the fire.

She lay staring into the flames for what seemed like hours, though she could never actually tell how much time had passed in this forest. She just couldn't get to sleep. She thought she saw eyes peeking out from between the trees. Trying to ignore them was pointless. But if she looked their direction, half afraid of catching their owner's attention, they would be gone. She tried rolling over, but she could see them in that direction too. Closing her eyes still left her with the eerie feeling of being watched.

Her eyes popped open. She was being stared at! Two of the largest yellow eyes she had seen yet were staring at her from between two trees that were disconcertingly close. She jumped and sat up. These eyes didn't go away when she stared back, and she just sat there for a moment, half afraid she had caught herself in a staring match with some dark creature of the forest.

Finally managing to tear her eyes away from the beast, whatever it was, she carefully crawled out of her bedroll and tiptoed towards the lone figure keeping watch. It seemed it was Bilbo's turn. Feeling a little glad she didn't have to show her nervousness to one of the dwarves, she sat and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned, obvious relief showing on his face when he recognized her.

"Need some company?" she asked quietly.

"That's always welcome," he replied.

"Thanks." The eyes were less disconcerting when she wasn't alone, even if it was only Bilbo who sat beside her. Glancing the other direction, she noticed the two large ones that had been staring at a minute ago had disappeared. She sighed with relief.

"What's wrong?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Bilbo's voice.

"Nothing. It's just…" her voice trailed off for a minute. "There's eyes in the forest. And they're all staring at me."

Bilbo put a hand on her arm. "I saw them too," he said gently. "But they always disappear when I look at them. I think they might be scared of us."

"Well, I guess it goes both ways," Karra grumbled. "Because I'm scared of them too." It felt good being able to admit being scared. She always hesitated admitting fear in front of any of the dwarves, even Fili or Kili. "Are we ever going to get out of here?" she said softly, almost to herself.

"I certainly hope so!" replied Bilbo, staring out into the darkness. "At least we seem to have stayed on the path so far, so we're bound to be going somewhere."

"Careful!" exclaimed Karra. "You'll jinx us."

Bilbo looked at her. "What?"

Karra shook her head. "Nothing." _Me and my modern-day-earth-isms. _

For a while they sat silently, both starting into the recesses of the forest. Karra found herself beginning to get sleepy. She should probably go back to the fire now…

She awoke with a start. It was morning; or at least, it was lighter now and the eyes were gone. Looking around her, she noticed that everyone else seemed to be awake. She groaned and sat up. Why did she always seem to be the last one to wake up? Yawning, stretching, and getting to her feet, she wandered over to the now burnt-out campfire where everyone else had gathered. As she sat down in the circle, she found a couple of pieces of food being pressed into her hand.

"And that's nearly the last of it, if you must know," Balin snapped. Karra stared. Balin was _never _crabby. But then again, nearly everyone was getting crabby after so long in this forest, even Fili and Kili and Bilbo. She had been crabby ever since they had entered the forest, she thought guiltily.

Soon they were on their way again. Karra was glad _not _to have to carry the stretcher right off. Her arm didn't hurt _too _much if she didn't use it and just let it hang at her side.

The day progressed slowly, as usual. They didn't stop for lunch, for it seemed they didn't really have any lunch. Karra resisted the urge to pick a leaf and try to eat it. Who knew what kind of poison was hidden in the trees in this forest?

Soon enough, it was Karra's turn to carry a corner of Bombur's stretcher. To her chagrin, she was asked to take the left side this time. She accidentally took hold of it with her right arm and had to bite her lip to keep from crying out in pain. Quickly switching to her left arm, she let her bad arm drop to her side. It was a little awkward this way, so with some maneuvering, she managed to balance the stretcher on her left shoulder, hoping no one would notice her fumbling with it.

All of a sudden, the stretcher began to move. She jumped and nearly dropped it, as did the other dwarf carrying it. They carefully set it on the ground and found Bombur sitting up, blinking. "Where am I?" he grumbled.

The entire procession of dwarves stopped and stared. Bombur was awake!

"Well, what's wrong?" snapped Bombur. "Shouldn't we get moving so we can get out of this confounded forest?" And without further ado, he stood and stepped off the stretcher, seeming confused about why it was even there.

"I'm hungry," he grumbled, shaking himself off. "Any food around here?"

Everyone stared at him for the second time that day. One of the dwarves gave a shake of his head, and the company began to move again.

"Don't see why I had to wake up," Bombur muttered to himself as he stumped along. "I was having a wonderful dream about a banquet…"

Everyone groaned. "Well, for goodness sakes don't tease us about it!" Karra cried. They walked in silence for a moment. "So…" Karra said. "What kind of food were they serving at this banquet?"

"You told me not to talk about it," grunted Bombur.

"Fine. I didn't really want to hear about it anyway," retorted Karra, moving ahead so she didn't have to walk beside the big grumpy dwarf.

And so they walked on. And on. And on. It was beginning to seem like it should be night now, or even past night. Maybe they had been walking for two days and didn't know it. Bombur threw in the occasional grumble, but otherwise it was silent, and the silence was beginning to wear on Karra's nerves. She was developing a throbbing headache, which perfectly coordinated with the throbbing in her arm to make her miserable. Everything combined made it feel like she was going to stifle.

Suddenly and without warning, she stopped, bumping into the dwarf in front of her. There was a moment of confusion, as the dwarves all found themselves running into each other. "What happened?" Karra cried, and her voice sounded louder than she thought it would. She jumped.

"Why have we stopped, Nori?" Thorin asked sternly, addressing the dwarf in front.

"The path…" Nori mumbled. "It's disappeared!"

"What's going on?" someone grumbled from the back of the group.

"We've lost the path!" cried Oin. His voice seemed to echo a little, accentuating his despair, but maybe that was just another illusion.

Karra looked down. The ground beneath her feet certainly didn't look like a path. It just looked…suddenly she realized she was standing near the edge of a cliff. A very tall cliff.

A wave of dizziness swept over her. She jerked back. As if from a distance, she heard Thorin calling, "All of you look for the path!" She turned, and, keeping her eyes away from the dizzying cliff edge, stumbled off in a random direction. She had no idea where she was going, but at least she was doing something.

Weaving her way clumsily through the underbrush, she kept her eyes on the ground. How would she know if she'd found the path? What if it was overgrown and unfindable? What if they kept wandering in circles here forever? _We're lost. _She couldn't shake the thought. She noticed briefly as she watched the ground that she was taking very uneven steps, and she probably wasn't even going in a straight line. She suddenly slammed into something and looked up to see a dwarf.

It took a moment to register in her mind that this was one of their company. He stood holding a pouch, staring at it confusedly.

"A tobacco pouch," he said, and his words sounded slightly slurred. "There's dwarves in these woods."

"Dwarves from the blue mountains, no less," observed another dwarf who was also standing there. What was his name again? Karra couldn't quite remember. "This is exactly the same as mine," he said, snatching the pouch.

"Because it is yours!" cried Bilbo, almost shaking him. Where had the hobbit come from? Karra hadn't remembered seeing him before. "Don't you see?" His voice held a hint of desperation. "We're going in circles! We're lost!"

_Lost. Lost! _The word echoed through Karra's mind. No! They couldn't be! They couldn't have gotten _too_ far away from the path! Seeing a slight opening in the trees, she ran towards it, but it disappeared as soon as she reached it. To her right, she saw another opening, and half realizing she should know better, she followed it. And once again, it was nothing.

Looking behind her, she found that she couldn't see anybody. She turned quickly and headed back, trying to quell her rising panic. She couldn't get separated from the group. She couldn't. Hearing a noise to her right, she headed towards it. It didn't sound like an animal. At least, not any animal she had heard so far.

"Hello?" she called, but there was no response. "Hello? Who's there?" The noise just grew louder, and she ran towards it, not even thinking anymore. She didn't know who or what she was following, she just knew she was doing something.

The sound increased ahead of her, and she felt sure she would catch up to it soon. She stumbled into a small clearing, and suddenly it was silent. She looked around and saw nothing. She looked around again, her thoughts numbed. Nothing! She dropped to her knees in exhaustion and discouragement. Had she just spent precious time following a false lead? Or something more dangerous? She swept her eyes around the clearing again, her head spinning. She still saw nothing. It had only been an animal!

"Help!" she cried. "Help! Somebody!" But there was no answer. "Fili? Kili? Balin? BILBO?" She heard nothing, and her cries were swallowed up in the stifling darkness of the forest.

She was lost and alone in Mirkwood.

* * *

_I have nothing to say about this chapter. Umm…if you review I'll give you Bilbo? ;)_


	22. Chapter 22-More Elves?

_**Author's Note: **__Karra's reaction when she first sees the spider looking at her is pretty much word for word my reaction (minus the part about stabbing it with her sword) when I saw a big fuzzy spider on the wall while taking a shower. And yes, this really did happen. _

* * *

**Chapter 23-More Elves?**

Karra just sat there for a minute, staring at the trees around her. Now that she was really alone, they all seemed to be staring back at her. And she was beginning to see those eyes again. She slowly got to her feet, her hand going to the hilt of her dagger, which she had just remembered she had. That at least gave her some comfort. She took a step forward in one direction, then turned, as it seemed like the wrong direction, and took a step in another direction, and finally just sat down against what she thought was the same tree.

For the first time in a while, she felt totally helpless. She had been clumsy before, yes, and she had gotten herself in danger before, but she was always _with _someone. There had always been someone to protect her. Now there was no one. She had never felt so utterly alone and lost in her life.

She tried calling for help once more, but again her cries were swallowed up in the forest. She let herself slump back against the tree and nervously clutched at the hem of her shirt. Nothing…there was nothing she could do. Any direction would just get her more lost, she could tell. She would never find the path again on her own strength.

No! She couldn't start thinking like that! It was just this forest, planting thoughts in her head again! She got to her feet clumsily but determinedly and headed off into the trees again. After all, there seemed to be just a hint of path here; maybe it would take her somewhere. But as she followed the little trail, it disappeared and left her stranded once again in the thick forest.

She plopped down abruptly and put her head in her hands, running her fingers through her tangled hair in desperation. She was lost; there was nowhere she could go without getting more lost; she had no food and water with her; and the logical conclusion of those thoughts was that she could probably die here.

As if to add to her anxiety, she began to hear noises. They started out as little rustlings; but then, she had heard those before, and was getting rather used to them. Then she heard a noise right behind her. She whipped around and saw nothing. Hearing a noise to her left, she turned, and once again saw nothing. She was starting to get really nervous now. Not only was she lost and alone, now she was hearing noises. She wondered briefly if she was going a little bit crazy.

But then she heard another noise, and this one was unmistakably close. She turned and saw a shadow move behind her. And heard another twig snap.

With a sharp intake of breath, she jumped to her feet and plunged into the woods away from it. She still saw the shape behind her, and it seemed to be following her. She was beginning to hear even stranger noises, little hissings and the pitter-patter of animal feet in the underbrush.

She fled as fast as she could, willing herself not to trip. Whatever was chasing her seemed to be gaining, and fast. She ducked suddenly out of the way and ran into something soft and squishy.

She nearly gagged when she realized what it was that she had just run into. Pulling her short sword out of its sheath, she took a deep breath and sliced the giant spider web out of her way. It was the biggest expanse of spider web she had ever seen. It almost made her want to puke. Holding her breath, she tiptoed away from it, making sure none of the sticky threads were still clinging to her clothing. The thought of what could be accompanying these giant spider webs made her drop down in the underbrush and cover her head.

Hearing a sound, she raised her head slightly, and saw a shape that somewhat resembled…her eyes popped open and she caught her breath. This would be her friend Kat's worst fear come to life. She had never been a big fan of bugs either, but it wasn't like she would jump onto the nearest chair and scream if she saw one. But…

_A giant spider? _

Now that was just wrong.

A _giant spider, _for goodness sakes. She was lost, hearing noises, and running into gag-inducing masses of spider web, and now she was seeing giant bugs.

This day couldn't get much worse.

A moment later, it did.

Because she looked up to see the face of an even bigger spider, all eight of its huge eyes staring straight at her.

She jumped to her feet. "G…go away," she cried. "I wouldn't stay here…if…if I were you. I…I have a sword and I'll kill you…I'll stab you…I…I…" She reached for her sword, only to realize it wasn't there.

She let out a shriek and ran. Something in the underbrush caught her about her ankles, sending her sprawling to the ground.

A giant leg reached towards her. Groping for something, anything, she found a rock and threw it as hard as she could. She missed the spider's face, but it provided enough of a distraction for Karra to slip into the bushes. She crawled as quietly as she could through the underbrush, trying to quell her rising panic and willing herself not to get up and run as fast as she could. Maybe if she could just get far enough away from these beasts without being noticed….

She heard the noise behind her again. The thing had obviously followed her trail. She tried to crawl even more quietly, but her hair caught on a branch and stuck there. She pulled, wincing. A giant leg poked through the underbrush and nearly touched her. She dropped to the ground and rolled away, the branch breaking off and staying in her hair.

Suddenly she rolled over something that _didn't _feel like a rock. Brushing her hand over it, she found herself grasping the hilt of a dagger. Picking it up, she saw that it was hers. Was she really going in circles then? She _was _glad to have it back.

She was especially glad a moment later when another spider leg almost hit her. She slashed forward with her dagger and chopped it off at the joint, not really realizing what she was doing until she saw the severed leg laying at her feet.

_Ew! _Kicking the thing away from her, she crawled on in the direction she thought was away from the spiders, though now she was hearing noises all around her. She thought about calling for help again, but that would only call attention to herself. She crouched nervously in the underbrush waiting for the spiders to leave or something to happen.

Another leg burst through the layer of underbrush. Karra let out a little shriek and stabbed at it as hard as she could. She jumped to her feet and found herself facing the largest spider she had seen yet.

She began to back away but it followed her. She held her sword out in front of her, her hands shaking. The spider approached her, and suddenly everything was chaos.

More spiders exploded out of the trees, and Karra was caught up in the middle of a battle. It was just her against about five spiders, and she was pretty sure she wasn't winning. To her surprise, she actually managed to slice a leg off, but that only seemed to make its owner angrier. It bore down on her, hissing. The sound grated on her ears, but she held her ground, and as it approached, shoved her sword into its face. It drew backwards with an even uglier hiss, seeming a little startled. She took the opportunity to turn and run.

She ran right smack into another huge leg. She hacked at it and fought the urge to gag as black liquid spurted out onto her shirt. It hissed something that sounded suspiciously like a curse, opening its jaws. She backed up and without warning found herself enmeshed in another huge spider web.

She tried to struggle, but there was nothing she could do. The more she moved, the more stuck she became. Soon she was surrounded, and felt as if she might smother in the horrible sticky stuff. She felt a pain in the back of her neck and everything became very fuzzy. She felt as if she was struggling in slow motion and she couldn't focus. She let her eyes drift shut for a moment.

Her eyes popped open and she tried to focus on something, anything. She was surrounded by a strange, fuzzy white glow. She tried to move her hand and found she couldn't. She thought she heard some sort of noise in the back of her mind. But when she tried to figure out what it was, she found she couldn't quite think, as if her thoughts had been dulled by some potion.

All at once she felt a jerk, and found herself hitting the ground. She heard a strange squishing sound, and she felt herself being rolled over and over. She found that her eyes could focus a little better. Hovering over her was a tall figure holding a sword. The sword plunged downward, and she heard that squishing sound again. She realized with a churn of her stomach that it was the sound of the spider web being pulled off of her.

As her eyes focused a little clearer, the figure stood again and slipped the sword into its sheath. It looked like…an elf? What was an elf doing here?

Her vision was still a little blurry as the figure reached down and pulled her to her feet. Her head throbbed and so did her arm. The elf spoke something in another language, and another figure appeared, this one armed with a bow and arrows. Her vision cleared a little more and she saw they looked a bit perplexed. One of them motioned towards her and said something, and the other walked over and ordered her to stand still. As she was already standing still, she obeyed his orders, and he proceeded to search her, taking her sword and her makeshift sword belt.

Just as he was finishing his search, something seemed to catch his attention. Reaching forward, he lifted the gold necklace in his fingers. Karra was surprised he hadn't noticed it before, and relieved that her key had managed to stay tucked under her shirt. Maybe he wouldn't notice _that._

He unlatched the chain of the necklace, and without so much as asking permission, took it for himself. Karra sighed with relief. He hadn't taken her key.

But a moment later, he reached forward and took hold of the chain, pulling the key out from under her shirt. She opened her mouth to say something, but he interrupted her with a "What's this?" surprisingly in English—or whatever they called it here—this time.

"It's mine!" she cried, batting his hand away. What good could a dwarven key do to an elf?

"You have entered our forest," the elf said, unlatching the chain and taking they key in his hand, "and therefore, you are our prisoner. As our prisoner, we may take anything from you that we deem of value." He looked at the key in his hand. "And I deem this of value." He nudged her with his bow. "Move along," he ordered.

Almost before she knew what was happening, she found herself captive in the middle of a long line of elves, all armed with swords or bows or daggers. Surely they hadn't all come out here to rescue her. Or the rest of the dwarves. Or whatever. The rest of the dwarves! Were they all here? She strained to see down the long line in front of her, but saw nothing but tall elves. When she turned to look behind her, she got a firm nudge.

The spider venom began to wear off as they marched through the forest, and Karra found her vision getting sharper and her mind clearer. She still had that annoying throbbing headache, though, and she suspected that would take a while to go away. What she wouldn't do for an Advil right now.

She continued to plod along, as she couldn't exactly do anything else. She wondered where she was going, and what the elves were going to do to her when she got there. Half of her hoped they rest of the dwarves were with her, half didn't. After all, wouldn't this be just the delay they didn't need? But she didn't want to be alone.

And the further they walked, the more one thought drove itself into her mind.

She had lost the key—her only link to home.

* * *

_Well, due to Thanksgiving travels and such, I may or may not be updating again this week. So if you don't see another chapter for a week, don't start getting worried that I've randomly decided to abandon this story. :D_

_And yes, that elf armed with a bow and arrows was who you thought it was. It wasn't really originally, but I thought, oh what the heck, I should put him in here somewhere. ;) _


	23. Chapter 23-An Unexpected Friendship

_**Author's Note: **__Yes, I had to bring __**her**_ _in. ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 24-An Unexpected Friendship**

Karra wasn't sure how long they walked, but it seemed like hours, or even days. Karra was kept moving at a fast pace, just fast enough that she couldn't slow down enough to look for any of the other dwarves. She finally just gave up and focused on keeping up with the elves.

As they walked, the forest became less dark and gloomy and more cheerful and pretty, more like a forest should look, Karra thought. Actual beams of sunlight slanted through the orange and yellow leaves, and every so often, Karra saw some signs of civilization, of people living here. Eventually, they reached a thin, graceful bridge, and crossing it entered through a large rounded doorway into the elven mansion.

The whole place looked like a slightly less refined version of Rivendell, with the same graceful curving architecture, except here it was made of branches and leaves, giving it an earthier feel. Karra was led through several large passageways, and into a large, branch-lined room. There it seemed as if the elven company split off, and two guards led Karra down a smaller corridor. She figured protesting was useless, so she followed them meekly, her head bowed.

She heard a door creaking open, and then one of the guards pushed her firmly inside what looked to be a prison cell. The door slammed shut again, and she heard the sound of a key grinding in the lock. Then the guards were gone.

It took her a moment to process what had just happened. In one day, she had gotten bitten by a giant spider, captured by elves, and…and had the only link to her home taken away from her. That last thought echoed in her mind. She would never see her mom again. The key had always been there, a comforting reminder that should she ever want to return, she could. But now…she sighed and stared out the bars of the cell dejectedly. Now she was stuck in an elven prison cell with nothing to do and nothing else to think about.

In an effort to take her mind off…everything, she took a moment to actually look around her. The cell had bare stone walls and a metal barred door separating her from the outside. Nothing interesting here. Some of the architecture could have been interesting had there not been so little of it. She had pretty much examined everything there was to examine in a couple of minutes. She slumped back against the wall with a sigh. Now what?

Her eyes popped open. Had she fallen asleep? It was so hard to tell how much time had passed. She glanced around once more, half disappointed to find that this wasn't all a dream, and she was still sitting in this same boring cell. She yawned, got to her feet, and began to pace. The cell didn't provide much room for exercise, so she sat down again.

Karra wasn't sure how much longer it was before something happened, but eventually a guard came by and dumped a plate of food and a cup of water though the bars of the door. She wanted to thank him, but he was gone before she could speak.

At least they weren't trying to starve their prisoners. The food was good, and presumably healthy, though it wasn't all that flavorful. As Karra set the empty plate back down near the door, she made the mistake of bumping her bad arm on one of the bars and nearly ripping the bandage off.

She felt a wave of dizziness. Dull pain throbbed through her arm. She carefully began to unwrap the bandage, figuring now was as good a time as any to take a look at the wound.

As always, it didn't look at worse, but it didn't look any better. It was still red and puffy, and may or may not have actually been oozing something. Everything was still a bit fuzzy to Karra. It was probably the lingering influence of the forest and the spider bite, both of which should wear off soon. Karra hoped. The headache was still there too, just adding to everything.

Since there probably wasn't much Karra could do about the wound, she began to rewrap it, wishing she had another bandage to replace it with. The dirty cloth was probably only adding to the infection, or whatever it was.

As she clumsily rewrapped the bandage with her left hand, she heard footsteps outside the cell. She glanced up briefly, assuming it was just another guard. She was surprised to see a tall, beautiful elven woman with long red hair the same shade as hers. She was dressed in what looked to the uniform of a guard. Karra stared up at her. She didn't know how long it had been since she'd seen another woman!

The elf stopped for a moment, looking into her cell. Karra met her gaze, trying not to look too shocked. Her hand lingered on the bandage and she felt as if she looked rather groggy.

"Does something trouble you?" the woman asked kindly.

"What?" Karra said blankly. Suddenly everything seemed to register in her mind and she said hastily, "Oh, no, I'm not troubled! I mean, not really, other than…" her voice trailed off. It probably wasn't best to complain to a guard about sitting in a boring old cell with nothing to do.

"Than what?" the elf asked, and she seemed like she actually cared.

"…my arm hurts," mumbled Karra, gently nudging the bandage off her arm so the elf could see, though she wasn't exactly sure _why _she wanted the elf to see.

The woman dropped to her knees so she was at the same level as Karra. "Let me see," she said gently. Karra unwrapped the bandage a little more and scooted closer to the bars, feeling as if she could trust this woman. The elf gently and skillfully ran her fingers over the wound, examining it.

"It's slightly infected," she said after a moment. "How long have you had this wound?"

"Like maybe two weeks or so," Karra replied, still sort of wondering why she was talking to a guard so personally. "I honestly don't know. I kind of lost track of time since we entered this forest."

The elf woman smiled slightly. "Yes, that happens to many who enter Mirkwood," she said. Her expression darkened slightly. "Too many," she said. She stood up and smiled again, as if to say, enough with that. "I will return," she said, turning and walking down the corridor and out of sight. Karra watched her go. She hadn't expected to meet someone like this here! Another woman, and a guard at that. She grinned, wondering if Kili were here. He would surely take a fancy to this lovely elven woman. She wondered where she was going, and what she had meant by her parting words.

She didn't have long to wonder. Soon, she heard footsteps in the hallway again, and the elf was back, this time holding something in her hand. Leaning down, she passed a clean bandage and a bottle of something through the bars to Karra. "Put some of this salve on your wound," she said. "It should lessen the pain and quicken the healing."

"Thanks!" Karra exclaimed. "Why are you doing this?" she blurted out. "I mean, why are you helping me so much?"

"Because I," said the elf, in a tone that said there were issues at play here, "believe in treating our captives with respect." She gave Karra a little smile to indicate that her irritation was not directed at her, then turned once again and walked down the hallway.

Just as she was almost out of sight, Karra thought of something. "Wait!" she called. As soon as the word was out of her mouth, she felt terribly disrespectful. She had nearly forgotten for a moment that she was the prisoner here, and the elf was the guard. She felt a flush rising.

The woman turned and looked at her quizzically. "Umm…" Karra began. "I…I wanted to ask you if the rest of my company got captured too. They're all dwarves," she added hastily. "Thirteen of them. And one hobbit."

The elf nodded with a smile. "Yes, we have all thirteen dwarves here," she said. "But I haven't seen a hobbit. What is a hobbit?" she asked.

"Oh!" It suddenly dawned on Karra that Bilbo might be still wandering around in the woods, lost. The thought had never occurred to her that he wouldn't have gotten captured with the rest of the company. Great, now she had another thing to worry about. "A hobbit is…well, sort of like a dwarf, only with big feet…er…short, about three feet tall," she fumbled. "Nevermind, I don't think you'd understand, really." She cocked a grin up at the woman, trying to lessen her awkwardness. "Did I ever get your name?" she asked, momentarily forgetting her prisoner status again.

"Tauriel," the elf replied. "You may call me Tauriel."

"Oh, okay," Karra replied, lapsing back into awkwardness again. "Um, well…thanks." She grinned again, hoping she looked friendly. Tauriel smiled back, turning and walking down the corridor once again. Karra watched as she disappeared around the corner. This bit of companionship had been nice, and she couldn't help hoping she'd see this elf again. And Tauriel was an easier name to remember than some, so that was a plus.

* * *

Karra couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned on the hard cell floor, first pillowing her head in her arm, then leaning against the wall, then leaning against the door, but nothing worked. At least the forest had had a soft layer of leaves and underbrush to sleep on. This cell had nothing but stone, and Karra didn't even have her bedroll.

It seemed the elves didn't even turn off their lights at night. It was still just as light in the corridor as it had been in the daytime, assuming it had been daytime earlier, and that bothered her too. She squirmed and sat up, leaning against the wall again. She should have asked Tauriel for a pillow or something.

Hearing a sound in the hallway, she turned her head, expecting another guard. But instead of a guard, a dark shape came slowly around the corner. It seemed to be looking for something, for it would stop, peer into a cell, then move on. Unable to look away, Karra watched as it approached her cell.

As it moved closer, she recognized the silhouette to be that of a spider—a giant spider. She gasped and drew back to the farthest corner. The horrible thought entered her mind that the elves were planning to kill them all by releasing spiders on them. She reached for her weapon, but it wasn't there. She couldn't move, and stared transfixed as it reached her cell and looked in. It gave a horrifying hiss.

She jerked upright and looked around her. The corridor was dark. There was no spider. _It was a dream. Only a dream. _

She almost collapsed from relief. She reached instinctively for the key, to feel its comforting familiarity around her neck, only to realize she didn't have it anymore. She stared out the bars of the cell. Why hadn't she called her mom that last night at home? Now she would never see her again. She blinked back tears.

She must have drifted off to sleep sometime later, for when she opened her eyes, the hall was light again. She didn't feel as if she had gotten a good night's sleep, and she wasn't sure how much time had passed since her nightmare; like the forest, these halls had a certain sense of almost disconcerting timelessness. It must have been after breakfast, though, for there was a plate of food inside her cell.

Breakfast was the same as dinner had been; food without much taste, but at least it was food. After she had finished, she unwrapped the new bandage on her arm, not sure what to expect from Tauriel's healing potion. To her surprise, her arm was nearly healed. Whatever it had been oozing was gone, and a scab covered the wound. It was still a little red, but she didn't feel any pain, even when she touched it. She almost found herself hoping they'd be kept here until it healed entirely.

She spent most of the afternoon doing pretty much nothing. She was half tempted to make a face every time a guard walked by, but she figured that probably wasn't a good idea. Once she stuck out her tongue at one's back and winked at him when he turned around. She had just started playing connect-the-dots on the ceiling when she heard footsteps outside her cell. She looked out the door, wondering what silly thing she could do this time, and was surprised to see Tauriel walking by.

She had the sudden urge to call out her name and wave wildly, but she resisted. After all, she was prisoner and Tauriel was a guard, or something of the sort. If the elven woman wanted to greet her, she would let her do it.

She was a little surprised when Tauriel actually approached her cell with a smile. Didn't the guards have better things to do than to talk to their prisoners? Not that she was complaining.

"Hi…" she said shyly, not sure what else to say. "You…you came back."

Tauriel laughed lightly. "Of course!" she said in a tone that indicated that the answer was obvious. Karra was surprised that an elf would actually want to spend more time with her, but hey. It was nice. Dropping to her knees so that she was at Karra's level, she requested, "Show me your arm."

Karra gently unwrapped the bandage and stuck her arm through the bars of the cell for the elf to see. Tauriel gently ran her fingers over the wound. "I don't believe you ever told me your name?" she said while examining it.

The names Karra Oakenshield and Karra of Erebor flashed through her mind, but she pushed aside the temptation and just said, "Karra. My name's Karra." She figured her surname was irrelevant here, since the only person she had met with an actual last name was Thorin, and Oakenshield was much more epic than McPherson.

"Karra," Tauriel said. "I've never heard a name like it before." She finished looking over Karra's arm. "I see much improvement," she said. "Keep putting the salve on it, and it should be healed in a matter of days." She handed Karra a new bandage, which she produced out of seemingly nowhere.

Karra nodded gratefully. "Thank you…so much," she said awkwardly. "Not…not that I had expected anything worse," she said, trying to make conversation. "I mean, elves are kind of…perfect…" Her voice trailed off as she realized she sounded a little sarcastic.

Tauriel gave her a look that could only be described as knowing. "Perfect? No, we are not perfect." She looked away. "Some of our race is far from it."

"Yeah, but you're definitely better than anybody else here," Karra said, not even sure why she was continuing this line of conversation. "I mean, take the dwarves. Not to be down on my own race or anything, but they're kind of uncouth, and can be rough, and sometimes don't have a sense of manners." She laughed. "I should know," she said. "I've been traveling with them for months." She saw a slight smile on Tauriel's face and continued. "They complain about everything, and toss food at each other, and have belching contests. Fili and Kili are cute, but they're just as bad as the others." She perked up. "Have you seen them? They're younger, Fili has light hair and Kili has dark hair. They're brothers." She stopped, realizing that she was kind of monopolizing the conversation.

"I think I might have met Kili," Tauriel said with something of a grin on her face. Karra raised an eyebrow.

"Did he…you know…flirt with you?" she asked with a laugh.

Tauriel shook her head. "You don't want to know," she said.

"I'm sure I don't." Karra grinned. So they had met. Oh, she couldn't wait to tease Kili about this later. If…if she did see him later. If they ever got out of here. She shouldn't be thinking about this in front of a guard; it might show.

"Tell me more about dwarves," Tauriel said, and her tone indicated that she found what Karra had said so far slightly amusing.

Karra grinned. "They're stubborn," she said. "But strong. And did I tell you they don't have good table manners? And they like to drink. And _not _your elven kind of wine. Like, beer and ale. Of course, I'm not really a dwarf, so…" She trailed off. What had she just said?

Tauriel seemed surprised. "You're not a dwarf?" she asked.

"Oh!" Karra exclaimed. "I…I didn't…I mean, I'm half dwarf, half human. My dad was a dwarf, my mother was human." There wasn't really anything else she could say without skirting around the issue, so she figured she might as well just tell her.

"I have never heard of a half dwarf before," Tauriel said. "Of course, I don't know much about dwarves, so I suppose it's possible."

"Of course it's possible!" Karra exclaimed. "If it wasn't, I wouldn't exist." She giggled, realizing that was quite the obvious statement there. "And that would be bad, wouldn't it?" Tauriel laughed. Karra grinned back. How strange, an elf and a half-dwarf.

They ended up talking for a while after that. Karra wasn't sure how long they sat there, laughing and chatting, but then again, she had had enough of counting the hours here, and was glad of something to do. Tauriel seemed quite interested in anything Karra could tell her about life outside of the forest, and Karra was interested in anything Tauriel could tell her about…well, life here in general. While she avoided telling her she was from another world, Karra did amuse the elf with some of the little quirks of life in America. All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon, and Karra was disappointed when Tauriel stood up and said with an apologetic smile,

"I'm afraid I must go now."

"Oh," Karra said. "Well, it's been fun!" She gave the elf a smile and a wave as she disappeared around the corner of the corridor. She might just have found a friend.

It must have been bedtime, or at least Karra's inner clock was telling her it was, for she was feeling rather sleepy. Once again, she reached for her key only to realize it wasn't here. With a sigh, she leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.

* * *

The next day went slowly until about mid-afternoon, or what Karra guessed to be mid-afternoon. Looking up hopefully, she once again saw Tauriel approaching. She had a smile on her face that spoke of something, though Karra wasn't quite sure what it was.

The elf walked over and leaned down. She seemed to be holding something. Leaning down, she opened her hand. "I believe these are yours," she said.

The golden necklace and the key spilled out and dropped to the floor.

* * *

_Well, yet again there's a strong chance I won't be updating again this week. Our computer decided to conk out yesterday evening, and there's only one other computer I have access to, and it's old and slow. While we _may_ get the computer fixed this week, we may not, so I just thought I'd warn you that there might not be another update for a week._


	24. Chapter 24-Like a Roller Coaster

_**Author's Note: **__Well, we have a computer again, so yay! Actually, it's pretty much been up and running again since Monday, but it was tied up for a couple of days getting all the programs reinstalled and everything. I probably could have posted this chapter yesterday, but…er…*blushes* I kinda forgot._

* * *

**Chapter 25-Like a Roller Coaster, But Scarier**

Karra awoke with a start. She stared out into the dark corridor, wondering why she was awake. As her eyes adjusted, she felt a shiver run down her back, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. _Someone was watching her. _She nervously scanned all corners of the cell. Nothing. She looked out into the hallway. Still nothing. But the feeling remained. She felt eyes on her, but saw no one looking at her. Suddenly she heard a sharp noise from the hallway that sounded a lot like, "Psst!"

She jumped and strained to see who it was that had spoken. "Who's there?" she hissed.

"It's me, Bilbo." She heard the voice, but still saw nothing.

"Bilbo!" she cried. "I'm so glad you're alright! Where are you?"

"I'm right outside your cell," came the reply.

"But I can't—"

"I know you can't see me," he replied in a hushed whisper. "I can't explain now, just trust me. And for goodness sakes be quiet." Karra heard the sound of something clanking, and then the sound of a key grinding in the lock, but still saw nothing. The door swung open on its own. "Follow me," she heard Bilbo say. She hesitantly followed the sound of footsteps down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" she asked softly. "And why, and how are you—"

"Stop!" he whispered. "I had to get past the guards. And I'm getting you out of here." She glanced away for a moment, and when she looked back, Bilbo stood in front of her, his hand in his pocket.

"Wha—" she began, but Bilbo held up a finger.

"I said I can't explain," he said. "Just follow me." They rounded a bend, and Karra saw thirteen dwarves standing huddled in a group, all looking just as confused as she felt. "Come on," Bilbo whispered. Karra ended up in the middle of the group as they tiptoed as quietly as they could down the dark-ish hallway. She felt someone bump into her, and turned to find herself looking straight into Fili's eyes.

He took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Thank goodness you're here," he said softly. "I didn't know what happened to you." Bilbo turned and made a shushing motion with his hand, and Karra and Fili grinned at each other and followed silently.

The hobbit led them through mazes of elven hallways, past some empty cells, and down a couple of flights of stairs. It was obvious no one except him had any idea where they were going, and they all hoped_ he_ knew where he was going.

The hall widened out a little, and Karra began to see that they were no longer in the dark, narrow corridors of the dungeons. She saw large rounded shapes surrounding her, and it took her a moment to realize what they were. Barrels? What? Where was Bilbo taking them?

Bilbo led them further, doing all he could to keep them quiet. Karra was slowly beginning to realize that they must be in some sort of storage area, maybe a cellar of sorts. They passed a table with two elves sitting at it. Karra jumped, and then realized they were slumped over, sound asleep, with a couple of empty glasses lying beside them. They must be in the wine cellars, then. Karra raised an eyebrow at Fili, a little surprised that it was actually possible for elves to get drunk.

"We're in the cellars!" exclaimed Kili, looking around him. "I don't believe it!"

"Yeah, you're just now realizing that?" Karra poked him in the side and he grimaced at her. She gave him a little wink, just dying to make an 'I know who you have a crush on' comment, but she didn't. That could wait.

"You're supposed to be leading us out!" cried Bofur, though he didn't say it too loudly. "Not further in!"

"I know what I'm doing!" cried Bilbo exasperatedly, motioning urgently for them to follow him just a little further. They rounded a bend and saw a large stack of barrels in a room containing shelves and shelves of wine bottles. "In the barrels, quickly," Bilbo ordered.

Karra stared at him. "What?" she said. This made absolutely no sense. Everything Bilbo had done so far had been good, but climbing in empty barrels? What were they supposed to do, just sit there and hide and hope no one came and found them? She would have preferred to stay in her cell!

"I said I know what I'm doing!" protested the hobbit. "Please, you must trust me!"

_Okaaay then. _Karra stared at the barrels again. This didn't make any sense, but Bilbo's plans had always worked for them before, so…

A commotion in the near distance made them all turn. "Do as he says!" ordered Thorin. Karra dashed for the nearest barrel and began to crawl inside, only to catch her foot on the rim and trip. She got to her feet and found Bilbo practically pushing her inside.

"Alright, alright!" she protested softly. "I can do it on my own!" She crawled in a little clumsily and turned so she could see out the open end.

"What do we do now?" Bofur asked, echoing the thoughts of everyone else there.

"Hold your breath," Bilbo replied.

And before Karra knew what was happening, she found herself and her barrel rolling over and over until she barely had any sense of direction or balance anymore. The barrels clanked and the dwarves groaned and yelled and all in all they made a terrible racket, and suddenly they were falling through the air and landing with a splash into a stream.

Karra spluttered and spit out water, brushing her wet hair out of her face. There was a splash behind her, and as she turned, her barrel almost tipped her into the water. Bilbo popped out of the water, clinging to Nori's barrel. "Well done, Master Baggins," Thorin said with a nod Bilbo's direction. He raised a hand in acknowledgment, gasping and spitting water.

"Come on, let's go," Thorin ordered. Karra dipped her hands in the water, trying to paddle her barrel forward. She found herself tipping dangerously to the right. She leaned to the left and almost fell in the water. Finally, though, the current took over and pulled her barrel along with the others.

All at once they emerged from the elves halls into the sunlight. Karra blinked. She hadn't actually seen the sun in…who knows how long!

Almost before her eyes had time to adjust to the change, she found herself being catapulted over a waterfall. She clutched the edge of the barrel as hard as she could and by some miracle of physics managed to stay inside as they landed with a huge splash at the bottom. The raging current pulled them forward again.

It was all Karra could do to keep her barrel from tipping and dumping her out again. Most of the other dwarves seemed to be having the same problem, as they all tipped and bounced down the river.

They whipped around a bend so fast it almost made Karra dizzy and saw a gate in the near distance. Two heavily armored elves stood guard above it and Karra caught her breath. Over the noise of the river, a horn sounded, and Karra tried to push her barrel faster, as if that would do any good. Just as they were about to be pulled through the gate, it shut with a clang. The barrels bumped up against it, stopped at the last minute.

Karra glanced around at the other dwarves. What now? They would probably just get taken back into the prisons again, this time more heavily guarded. If they could only have gotten past the gate, they would be free now.

And then there was an odd noise, and everyone looked up. One of the elven guards fell, pierced in the back with an arrow. A couple of hideous creatures emerged from the trees surrounding the bank, all armed.

"Orcs!" someone cried.

Suddenly a crowd of creatures emerged from the trees and swarmed down the bank of the river, growling menacingly and making all kinds of horrible sounds. Karra thought she heard, "Kill them all!" among them.

An orc landed with a splash in the river right beside Karra. She jumped and tried to push her barrel backwards, but of course that failed and she was almost tipped into the water. Suddenly the orcs were all around and among them, throwing themselves at the barrels and slashing and stabbing with their weapons. Karra instinctively felt for her own sword, only to realize it wasn't there. She threw a hard punch at an orc, knocking it backwards. Rather surprised at her momentary strength, she tried to elbow another orc out of the way and found herself hitting a dwarf in the face. She was pretty sure she must have given him a bruise on the nose. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Catch!" cried a dwarf, and Karra saw a weapon flying towards her. She reached out to grab it but missed, and it flew past her, making a lucky hit on an orc. Another weapon was nearly shoved into her hand, and she held it clumsily in front of her, for the orc sword was large and unwieldy. She hoped she didn't accidentally hit a dwarf with _this. _

It was all chaos in the close quarters near the gate, with the dwarves wrestling with the orcs and using their own weapons against them, trying to push them back from the little gate and into a more open area. Karra shoved her orc weapon as hard as she could the direction of an orc, but it dodged and grabbed her by her hair. She yanked her head away, letting out a cry of pain. She pulled free from the beast's grasp, but she was pretty sure it took a chunk of her hair with it. She barely had time to think. She was too focused on not getting wounded or strangled or smothered by an orc.

Without warning, the gate creaked open again. They all streamed through it and were thrown down another waterfall. Hitting the bottom of the river with a splash, Karra gulped in water without meaning to, and came up coughing and spluttering. The current pulled them on, and they tumbled down another waterfall. Karra felt her barrel turn upside down, and this time when she came up, she had no barrel.

She splashed wildly with her hands and feet, trying to keep herself from being bombarded by the current, but to no avail. She was irreversibly drawn towards the edge of the river and thrown hard against the rocky bank. Her head swam and she clung to the rocks, gasping. She felt blood dripping down her forehead, and she was sure she was going to have a terrible headache.

A barrel bumped into the bank beside her and she heard Fili's voice yell over the raging river, "Grab on!" She gripped the edge of his barrel, and they were thrown back into the middle of the current. The barrel tipped sideways and Karra found herself sliding in behind Fili.

She gripped hard around his waist as they continued on down the river. The barrel rolled and dipped and even turned upside down once, nearly dumping them both out. Karra gripped Fili so hard she was afraid she was hurting him.

An arrow landed with a splash beside them. Karra looked up to see the outline of…was that an orc on the bank above them? Within a matter of seconds, more of these…well, Karra assumed they were orcs…appeared on the bank beside the first one, all holding weapons of one kind or another. Arrows began to fly.

A knife came flying towards the barrel, and Karra desperately tipped to the side. The knife just barely missed grazing the side of Fili's head. Her heart began to beat very fast. If she hadn't tipped the barrel out of the way like that, Fili could be dead.

They were thrown under water again before Karra had time to think about it, and they came up gasping and choking. Suddenly an orc came flying out of nowhere. Thorin neatly beheaded it with an orc weapon he just happened to have in his hand. The body splashed into the water beside Karra and Fili and Karra repressed an involuntary shudder.

She kept her hands tightly clasped around Fili's waist as they crashed and rolled through more rapids, dodging arrows and thrown knives all the while. Through the chaos, Karra glimpsed a familiar figure on the bank; it was Tauriel, shooting orcs left and right. Those were some pretty awesome archery skills there, Karra thought briefly.

Another orc came flying towards them, almost landing on top of one of the dwarves' barrels. A knife flew out of nowhere and pinned it to a tree trunk that spanned the river, and Thorin caught the weapon neatly as it fell. It was tossed back through the line of dwarves and finally came flying towards Fili.

"Let go," he hissed, and Karra unclasped her hands from around his waist just as he caught the weapon and cut an orc's feet out from under it smoothly. It fell into the stream with a yell. The barrel was pulled forward into the middle of the current again.

Ahead of them, Karra saw a low-hanging tree branch, piled with orcs. She braced herself as they flew towards it faster than she would have liked. With a couple of chops at the branch by various dwarves, it came crashing down into the stream just as Karra and Fili bobbed under it, taking all the orcs with it.

"Karra!" she heard someone call, and saw an orc knife flying towards her. This time she caught it clumsily and heaved it in the direction of an orc standing on the bank, managing to neatly embed the knife into the mud at its feet. She grimaced. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bombur leap rather gracefully, for Bombur, from the bank into an empty barrel. It dawned on her that that was her barrel he had just jumped into!

"Hey!" she yelled over the chaos, waving a hand to the big dwarf. "That's my barrel!" Fili turned and gave her a questioning look, and she just gave him a slight grin. She didn't really mind being in his barrel after all.

They were thrown down another waterfall, and as they hit the bottom and came up, Karra saw two elves on the bank, killing orcs as fast as they could. She made very brief eye contact with Tauriel, and saw that the other was a blond-haired elf that looked somewhat familiar. He was the one who had taken her key! She had the sudden urge to stick out her tongue at him. But no, that would have been a horribly immature and silly thing to do in the middle of a fight.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

The elf leaped gracefully from the bank to the river, landing on top of two dwarves' heads. Riding the dwarves down the river, he spun and shot about three orcs in the space of three seconds. Karra couldn't help thinking he was showing off at the expense of the dwarves. He leaped back onto the bank and Karra ducked as an orc carcass came flying towards her. It landed in the water with a splash and Karra got a distinct whiff of orc scent. Yuck!

The show-off elven archer leaped from the bank again and walked right across the river, using the dwarves' heads as if they were stepping stones. Talk about rude! Karra had to duck to keep her own head from getting stepped on. She didn't want someone's shoe that probably had dirty orc muck all over it on her hair!

As she ducked, she unwittingly pulled the barrel sideways, nearly dumping her and Fili out. He caught her by the arm as she slid into the raging river, pulling her back in behind him. "Thanks," she managed to splutter out.

"Very welcome," he replied with a smile. "The river's a danger in itself."

"And so are rude show offy elves," she muttered, glancing up at the archer who was now standing on the bank as if stepping on dwarves' heads was an everyday habit of his. Fili turned and gave her a grin.

Another orc carcass came flying into the river with a splash, and then there was silence. "What happened?" Karra asked, a little dazed and just beginning to realize that she was very tired. "Where are the orcs?"

"They're gone—defeated," Fili said. "At least for now."

"Keep moving!" Thorin ordered. "More orcs could attack at any moment!"

"As if we could do anything _but _keep moving," commented Karra. Fili grinned. The river still pulled them forward with great speed, and they tumbled over another small waterfall. Karra had to cling to Fili to keep from getting thrown out. She swallowed another gulp of water and came up coughing and spluttering once again, accidentally spitting water all over Fili's hair. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's not like I could get any wetter," Fili said with a grin, and Karra giggled. She pushed her wet hair out of her face and hoped they would all get a chance to dry out soon.

The rapids gradually slowed, becoming smaller and smaller until eventually the river was fairly calm. They floated along, trying to keep their barrel upright. None of them wanted another dousing. Karra began to shiver. Her wet hair made her head feel heavy, and her clothes clung to her body, chilling her as they floated along. She wrapped her arms around Fili's waist and buried her head in his shoulder, but it didn't really help, because he was just as wet as she was.

Fili turned around as best he could with Karra's head on his shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm cold," she said quietly. "And tired."

"I don't blame you," he said with a small rueful laugh. "I think we all are."

They just floated along for a moment, her head resting on his shoulder. Eventually he turned and said, "I need to paddle, the river's not carrying us very fast. Would you mind…?" Karra sighed and lifted her head, unwrapping her arms from around his waist. He leaned over the edge and tried to push the barrel along with his hands, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. The other dwarves seemed to be having the same problem, so it wasn't like they were falling behind. Karra wondered at the fact that the river could have gone from wild rapids to almost unbearably calm in what seemed like less than an hour. Or maybe it had been more than that, she didn't know.

"Anything behind us?" Thorin called to the group.

"I don't see anything," Karra called.

"Nor I," Balin reiterated.

"I think we've outrun them!" cried Bofur.

"Not for long," reprimanded Thorin. "We've lost the current."

"And we're all half drowned," complain Dwalin disgustedly. Now that was true, Karra thought.

"Make for the shore," ordered Thorin. "Come on!" They managed to paddle their barrel painstakingly over the bank of the river, and after climbing out himself, Fili gently helped Karra out. She collapsed on the bank, exhausted from the day, the roller coaster barrel ride, everything.

Kili pulled his barrel up beside them and climbed out, but seemed to be having some kind of trouble. As soon as he was on the shore, he fell to his knees with something like a wince. Fili was at his side in an instant.

"I'm fine!" Kili protested. "It's nothing." But his strained voice portrayed that it was assuredly more than 'nothing,' and Karra saw a bit of blood seeping through his trousers. He must have gotten wounded in the fight with the orcs.

"On your feet," ordered Thorin almost coldly, turning to his nephew.

"He's wounded," protested Fili. "His leg need binding."

"There's an orc pack on our tail," Thorin said mercilessly. "We keep moving."

"To where?" asked Balin.

"To the mountain," Bilbo spoke up. Karra followed his gaze to the shadowy outline of the mountain above them. "We're so close," he said softly.

Fili looked up at Thorin. "Uncle," he said. "He needs help."

Thorin gave a long look up at the mountain again, then back at Fili, Kili, and Karra sitting there on the bank. The others seemed to be discussing something, but Karra was fixated on the little silent confrontation that seemed to be going on between Fili and his uncle.

"Bind his leg quickly," Thorin finally ordered. "You have two minutes." He turned away, his face harsh.

"What's with him?" Karra asked quietly, hoping the 'him' in question wouldn't hear.

"We're so close to the mountain—our home," Fili replied, pulling a cloth from his pocket to bind Kili's wound. "He's anxious to get there."

"Well, we all are!" cried Karra. "He doesn't need to be so crabby about it!" She scooted closer to watch what Fili was doing. Gently wiping the blood from the wound, he quickly bound the cloth around it. Kili bit his lip as if repressing a cry of pain.

"What happened?" Karra asked.

"An arrow," replied Kili. "An orc arrow." Karra nodded. She could see he didn't want to talk about it.

They heard a faint noise behind them. All three heads turned, and they saw that the other dwarves seemed to be looking at something. Karra followed their gaze and saw a man standing on the river bank above them, and arrow notched on the string of his bow. And the arrow was pointed straight at them.

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_I just want to give a little thank you shout-out to my guest reviewer, if you're reading this, who told me about the OC character tag. I didn't actually realize that existed, so thanks for that information! :)_


	25. Chapter 25-Fish and Toilets

_**Author's Note: **__At one time I actually had a regular update schedule (Mondays and Thursdays). But then December and computer problems happened. And now I'll be lucky if I actually get to update twice a week. _

_**Author's Note #2: **__Yes, I know it looks like I'm avoiding dialogue from the movie in places. I am, because I'm getting tired of it. _

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**Chapter 16-Fish and Toilets**

Dwalin leaped forward, grabbing a branch to defend himself against the archer. Karra stepped back, trying to hide herself behind Fili and Kili. The notched arrow flew, and buried itself in the thick branch. Kili impulsively picked up a stone, but it flew out of his hand, hit by another arrow.

"Next time I shoot to kill," the man said, and his voice was almost menacing.

There was a moment of silence. Everyone stared at the man. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he meant it. The next dwarf that tried to harm him would get shot, and that was that. Karra resisted the urge to glare at him harshly. What right did he have to come in like this and interfere? He didn't even know who they were.

Balin began to walk forward, his hands above his head. "Excuse me," he said, his thick accent softening the words, "but you're from Laketown, if I'm not mistaken?" He nodded to a boat that sat in the water behind the man. "That barge. It wouldn't be for hire, by any chance?"

Karra was rather surprised at Balin's forwardness. The man was pointing a weapon at them, and he just went right up and asked if they could use his boat! She bit back an untimely giggle. She wouldn't interfere here; she might just get herself shot.

Balin and the man went back and forth and back and forth. The man refused to help them at first, saying no one was allowed to enter the town except by permission of someone called 'The Master,' whoever that was. He wouldn't circumvent the law—which seemed like a pretty silly law to Karra—for any price—supposedly. She stood in the background watching, hoping they wouldn't just stand here all day bargaining and losing valuable time, and resisting the urge to say anything at all. She had a bad habit of messing things up at critical moments, which she wasn't about to do now.

Karra would have never expected Balin to be so good at this bargaining thing. The old grandfatherly dwarf with a big white beard and pleasant Scottish accent had some skills. Karra suppressed another giggle as the thought of Balin as a salesman popped into her head. Now _that _was a funny image.

By the time it was over, Karra wanted to sit down and take a nap. Standing there on the beach reminded her of how tired she was. And wet and cold, too. A slight mist rose off the water, chilling her. Her hair still felt heavy, and so did her clothes. She had to resist the urge to put her arms around Fili's waist and lean her head on his shoulder again—not in front of all the dwarves and a stranger.

They finally came to a sort of agreement. The man was to sneak them into town hidden in his barge. He finally had agreed to circumvent the law, though reluctantly, his unwillingness probably arising out of a wish to protect his family. And with the way he spoke of the Master, it didn't seem as if he held too much fondness for this personage. How they were supposed to hide in the man's open barge, Karra didn't know, but she figured someone here had a plan. Somehow she had a knack for ending up out of the loop on plans, so it was certainly possible. And if they didn't…well, could this 'master' be any worse than anything else they'd faced on this journey?

The man motioned for the dwarves to follow him. They loaded themselves and their barrels—though what exactly he wanted with the barrels Karra didn't know, maybe he just thought they were nice barrels?—aboard the boat, and then they were off.

The trip across the lake was fairly quiet. Everyone seemed keenly aware that they were on a secret mission now, and when they spoke, they spoke in whispers.

A fog rolled over the lake as they moved silently forward. The mist that Karra had felt earlier now clung in little droplets to her clothes and skin, preventing her from drying. The cloud of fog seemed to stifle all conversation even more, and it felt like they were hiding, even though as yet they had no one to hide from. Every time someone made a noise, it seemed to echo slightly, and then be swallowed up by the mist.

Karra shivered. She peeked over the edge of the boat and saw that they were pushing through large ice floes. It seemed as if they had suddenly stepped into winter.

A couple of large, shadowed rock formations loomed up before them. The cloud of fog obscured their tops, so they seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky. The barge seemed to be heading straight towards one of them. Karra pulled back from the side of the boat as it approached, huddling against the wall. Something about them seemed eerie.

"Watch out!" Bofur cried, heedless of the fact that they were supposed to be 'hiding'. His voice was swallowed up in the fog once again, and at the last moment, the boat swerved and pulled away from the formation. Karra raised her head and saw that it was, in fact, an old ruin of something, and not a rock formation at all. She shivered again, feeling as if they were in the middle of a ghost town.

"What are you trying to do, drown us?" cried Thorin indignantly. _Or more like scare us, _Karra thought.

"I was born and bred on these waters, Master Dwarf," the man replied without looking back. "If I wanted to drown you, I would not do it here."

Dwalin sent a glare at the man's back. "I've had enough of him," he grumbled, just loud enough for the man to hear, it seemed, though he didn't respond. "I say we just throw him over the side and be done with it." He glanced around at the other dwarves as if gauging their reactions to his scheme. Karra looked away.

"Bard!" said Bilbo a little angrily. "His name is Bard!"

"And you'd better be careful what you say around him, too," Karra said in a hushed voice. "You saw how good he was with that bow, and he knows this lake like he knows the back of his hand."

"How did you know his name?" Bofur's question was addressed to Bilbo.

"Fine, ignore me then," Karra humphed.

"Um…I asked him," Bilbo replied, as if the answer was obvious. Which it kind of was.

"And just when did you…" Karra began, but stopped. Bilbo was getting very good at sneaking around and doing things the others didn't know about. He was their burglar, after all.

"Well, I don't like him," growled Dwalin, picking up the conversation where Bilbo had left it, once again ignoring Karra. She sent him a glare, but he didn't seem to notice.

"We don't have to like him," Balin replied. "We simply have to pay him. Alright lads," he said matter-of-factly, "turn out your pockets."

Karra gave an apologetic shrug. She didn't have any pockets, and even if she did, any money she would have had in them wouldn't have been Middle-Earth currency anyway. Her hand went to the gold necklace that hung around her neck, but she pulled it back. She didn't want to give that up. It reminded her of her mom.

She watched as the dwarves piled their money in the middle of the circle. As the last coin dropped with a clink on the pile, Balin gave a slightly irritated look. Karra wasn't used to seeing him irritated, and it almost made her laugh.

"We…we have a slight problem," he said. "We're ten coins short."

All heads turned to Gloin. Karra didn't quite understand why—was this some sort of inside joke or something?

"Come on," ordered Thorin. "Give us what you have."

Gloin gave a mildly apologetic shrug. "Don't look at me," he said. "This quest has _bled me dry_." Karra thought she saw a _yeah, right_ look on several of the other dwarves' faces. "And what have I seen for me investment?" he complained. "Naught but misery and pain and…" his voice trailed off. Above them, a bit of the fog cleared, revealing clearly the outline of the Lonely Mountain.

"We're really close," Karra said quietly, almost to herself.

"Bless my beard," Gloin said, his voice laced with emotion. "Take it. Take all of it." He piled several bags of money in the center of the circle. Karra stared up at the outline of the mountain. They were so close, yet not close at all. They had a dragon to deal with, one that could wipe out an entire kingdom. And they were just thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a half-dwarf woman who wasn't really good at anything.

The sound of heavy footsteps approaching broke the moment. "Give me the money, now," Bard ordered.

"We'll pay you when you've done what you promised, not before," Thorin said.

The man narrowed his eyes. "If you value your freedom," he said, "you'll do as I say. There are guards ahead." He looked up and they followed his gaze. The misty outline of a town stood in the near distance. The houses seemed to float above the water, and rivers ran through as if they were streets. _This must be Laketown. _

The dwarves stared up at Bard for a moment, then Thorin scooped up the money and handed to him, his face expressionless. Bard stuffed it in his pocket and nodded at the barrels. "Get in," he ordered.

The dwarves stared at him again. "In the barrels," he said again.

"Do as he says," Thorin ordered. Bilbo was the first to obey, crawling into the nearest barrel and crouching down. The other dwarves followed suit. Karra glanced around at one barrel then another, realizing they were one short. She peeked in a barrel and found it already occupied—by Fili.

"Can I…" she began.

"Certainly!" Fili took her hand and helped her in beside him. She squirmed around to find a good position and found herself practically sitting in his lap. She flushed.

"Sorry, I—" she began, but he cut her off.

"It's fine," he said with a laugh. "We're one short, and it had to happen to someone." He chuckled again and shrugged. "And I'd rather have you sitting in my lap than another dwarf." Karra laughed awkwardly and wiggled into a more comfortable position. She understood now why Bard had wanted them to get in. Though how he was going to prevent the guards from just looking right into the barrels, she didn't know.

There was a jerk, as if something had bumped the barrel. Karra was knocked out of her comfortable position and found herself face to face with Fili again. "Quiet," hissed Bard, and she realized he must have kicked their barrel.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Karra wasn't sure how long they rode like that, only that, after a little while, they finally came to a stop. Karra had to resist the urge to peek over the top of the barrel to see what was going on. Instead she whispered to the dwarf in the next barrel, "What's happening?"

The whispered message was passed down through the line of barrels, and "Bilbo says he's talking to someone," eventually came back to Karra and Fili.

"He's pointing at us!" the message came through a couple of moments later. Karra strained to hear who Bard was talking to and what he was saying, but she was in the middle of the large group of barrels, and all she could hear was the other dwarves' faint breathing. "They're shaking hands." The message came through the barrels again. Karra thought she heard someone grumble something about 'selling us out,' but she wasn't sure. She strained to listen again.

Suddenly a dead fish came falling down on top of her. She spluttered and looked up just in time for a whole load of them to be dumped on her face. "What in the world?" she cried, pushing one of the slimy things away. As best he could through falling fish, Fili clapped a hand over her mouth. "Sorry," she mumbled. How many times had she said that today?

The fish finally stopped, but they were completely covered. Dirty, wet, slimy, smelly dead fish all over her face, hair, clothes. Karra shuddered. She was going to be a huge mess—and smell bad.

The boat moved forward again slowly. Karra squirmed, but she just couldn't find a comfortable position. Everywhere she tried to sit was a fish. She felt like she was going to be smothered. She wriggled into the best possible position she could, disgustedly moving a fish out of the way so she didn't have tail sticking up her nose, and found herself staring straight into Fili's eyes.

"Um…hi…" she mumbled. Then she began to giggle as she pushed another fish out of the way so she could see his whole face.

"What's so funny?" he asked, obviously thinking the situation was anything _but _funny.

"Has it even occurred to you how weird this is?" she giggled. "We're sitting inches apart in a barrel with fish on top of us." She pushed another fish out of the way and it landed back on top of her with a splat, which made her laugh even more.

Fili grinned and put a finger to her mouth with a "Shh." She realized they were probably making too much noise, but she couldn't resist one more giggle as she noticed a fish right next to her staring at her. She pushed it out of the way, but it fell right back into place. She looked away to avoid making eye contact with it, because, seriously, that was just weird.

A moment later, she felt the boat come to a stop again. She heard muffled voiced coming through the layer of dead fish on top of her.

"What are they saying?" she whispered to Fili.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "I think I heard something about the Woodland Realm."

Karra tried to hear more the conversation, but it was just muffled enough that she couldn't quite make out the words. She wished she could pass a message through the barrels again to someone who could actually hear, but she doubted even the dwarf in the next barrel could hear her through the fish.

She sat there waiting tensely for who knows how long. She heard voices raised as if in an argument, but still couldn't quite understand what was being said. And then someone grabbed her barrel and tipped it sideways.

She fell forward on top of Fili. He caught her around the waist and they sat there for a minute like that as the barrel tipped further. She heard fish sliding off the top. Had they been betrayed?

"Stop!" She heard the command, and their barrel was set down with a jerk. She let out a sigh of relief. A moment and a brief exchange of voices later, they were moving again. She wiggled into a better position and wormed out of Fili's embrace. He sent her a grin as a couple of fish fell in between their faces. She swiped them out of the way and they fell back. She giggled slightly and let them sit there.

The boat stopped again, and Karra wondered what it was this time. She heard the thump of feet approaching the barrels again, and some other sounds she couldn't identify, and then her barrel was being tipped to the side again.

This time all the fish were dumped out and Karra and Fili tumbled out onto the deck of the boat, spluttering. Karra was relieved to see that Bard was the one doing the dumping. She got to her feet, disgustedly wiping fish slime from her clothes and hair. She glanced around and saw that the rest of the company felt pretty much the same way. She wrinkled her nose. They all smelled like fish. Dead fish.

Bard motioned for them to follow him, and they obeyed silently. Everyone seemed to sense that he knew best.

They snuck around behind crowds of people in what seemed to be a marketplace of sorts. Karra found herself tensing every time someone looked their way. It was obvious several people saw them, but no one said anything. So what was the point of all this sneaking around, anyway? A moment later, Karra found out. Because they bumped into a guard. Two guards, actually.

"Halt!" one of them ordered. The entire group did just the opposite, taking off running, pushing their way through the mass of people. Karra bumped into at least one person, apologized, and then realized that she probably shouldn't be drawing attention to herself. She found herself at the back of the group and grabbed onto a dwarf's hand to keep up. She was pulled around a corner and they ran into another guard. Like, literally, ran into him. Again.

The company came to a halt, all bumping into each other one after another. One of the dwarves lunged forward and attacked the guard, picking up something from the ground to aid him. The company swarmed forward onto another guard who had just appeared. Karra grabbed a piece of wood and attempted to trip the man, but only succeeded in tripping another dwarf. Mumbling an apology, she dropped the wood and looked around for something less problematic. But before she knew what was happening, both guards were down and the company was shoving them behind a building. Karra crouched with the rest of them behind a wall, breathing hard. Had they seriously just knocked out two guards? Gosh.

A moment later, as if at some signal, they took off running again down a back alley. Karra was still out of breath when Bard met them again. They slowed their pace but were still watchful as they continued.

Finally they came to a stop in front of a house. Karra assumed it was Bard's house, for a young man, still almost a boy, ran up to him. "Da!" he cried. "Our house is being watched!" _Yeah, by us, _Karra thought. The boy didn't seem fazed in the least that there were fifteen strangers with his 'da'.

Bard looked at the boy for a moment, then back at the dwarves. Motioning for them to follow him, he led them around the back of the house. "You must do exactly as I say," he instructed, then laid out his plan in a low voice.

Karra just couldn't keep quiet when she heard what the plan was. "Through the _toilet?_" she exclaimed, though still keeping her voice low. "Excuse me, but we have _royalty _in our midst! I don't think—" She felt a jab in her side and turned to see Fili mouthing, _stop. _She snapped her mouth shut and stared defiantly at the man, as if daring him to make her do it.

Before anyone else could protest, Bard turned and strode around the corner. They all looked at each other. Then, as if on cue, everyone began to talk at once.

"I can't believe he's asking us to go through the toilet!" Karra exclaimed.

"First dead fish, then this?" cried Bombur.

"I simply will not," said Nori matter-of-factly, as if that settled the matter.

"I must say—" began Balin.

"It's an affront to my dignity!" cried Kili.

"What dignity?" Karra shot back.

"Everyone, please!" cried Bilbo. "I think it's our best chance!"

"He's right," agreed Thorin. "We must do as the lakeman says." Thorin's word was law, and everyone quieted down and waited nervously. The tension was almost palpable, and Karra felt as if someone must have heard their little argument and was coming to arrest them and throw them in jail simply for being here.

Presently, there came a knock on the wall, then another, then another. They all looked at each other. That was the signal. Dwalin happened to be standing in the front of the group, and all eyes turned to him. He glowered back at them, then with a growl, climbed under the house. As soon as he was gone, Karra let out a loud giggle. She clapped a hand over her mouth, then looked around to see that some of the others were snickering too.

She wasn't laughing when her turn came. With a _don't-you-dare-laugh-at-me-when-I'm-gone _glare, she took a deep breath and dove under the house. She found the opening quickly. Trying to think of something other than the fact that this was, um, a toilet, she swam upward and popped out of the top in a couple of seconds. The young man she had seen earlier was there to help her out.

She flushed slightly as she stumbled out and shook the water off. A total stranger had just seen her come out of a toilet. What a strange day this had been. Here she was, standing in the bathroom of a stranger's house, dripping wet and covered in fish slime. At least she was safe from orcs. For the moment, that is.

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_I swear, something other than the movie happens in the next chapter. And the next, and the next, and the next. Actually I guess I've pretty much altered everything somewhat from here on out. So yeah. Fair warning. ;)_


	26. Chapter 26-Sneaking and Confrontations

_**Author's Note: **__Karra actually does something semi-competent in this chapter. Watch out canon. (And I'm sorry it took me so long to update again…but you know, Christmas busyness.)_

* * *

**Chapter 26-Sneaking and Confrontations**

"Here you are, miss." Karra felt something soft being pressed into her hands, and she looked down to see that it was a neatly folded dress. She smiled her thanks to Bard's younger daughter. "You can change in my bedroom in you'd like," the girl said.

"Thanks, and I will," Karra replied. "Where is it?"

The girl proceeded to give her directions, and she headed off, eager to get changed. She had been wearing these old clothes for months now, and they were a torn, dirty, bloody, slimy mess. She was half tempted to throw them out into the lake and let them rot.

The dress was well made and practical, though it wasn't exactly Karra's color—she had never much liked wearing brown. She slipped it on and made the annoying discovery that she had to lace it up the back.

It took her about ten minutes to figure out how the lacing even worked, and probably about fifteen minutes to actually do it, and even then she couldn't get it laced all the way up. She managed to tie a very awkward looking knot in the back to keep it from falling off her shoulders and hoped it stayed—and also hoped no one noticed what a terrible job she had done.

The skirt was a little long, so she rolled it up and hoped that stayed too. Tripping over it was inevitable, but it was the best she could do. She turned to her hair.

The only thing she could do was run her fingers through it yet again. She didn't see a comb sitting on the dresser, and even if she had, she wouldn't have wanted to dirty another person's comb with fish slime.

Her hair had begun to frizz out as it dried, making an unmanageable mess around her face. Figuring she was done with her old clothes, she tore a strip off the shirt and tied it back in a big, fluffy, messy ponytail. Smoothing her dress once more, she headed back down the hallway. The rest of the group was probably wondering where she was now.

She couldn't resist running her hand over her dress once again. She could never have dreamed how good it would feel to be wearing clean clothes. Her hair still had fish slime all over it, and without question, she needed a bath, but her dress was clean! She felt like she could just sit down and revel in the feeling.

There was a fire in the fireplace when she stepped into the main room again. The same young girl guided her to a spot next to the warm blaze and offered her a shawl, which she took gratefully. Maybe she could use it to cover up her terrible job of lacing in the back. She was offered a drink and the girl took her clothes to hang up by the fire. She gave a nod of thanks.

"You just missed the story," Bilbo said, coming over to sit by her.

"Story?" she questioned.

"Balin told how the city was attacked by the dragon years ago," Bilbo explained.

"Oh?" Karra had heard many of the tales of old during their travels, but she hadn't heard this one. She took a sip of her drink as Bilbo began to explain, and found it surprisingly good.

Without even seeming to notice that Bilbo and Karra were talking, Thorin stood, and interrupting their conversation, addressed Bard in a voice loud enough for all to hear. "You took our money," he said. "Where are the weapons?"

With barely a nod, Bard strode out of the room. Karra watched him go with a sigh. Of course, she couldn't even have a moment to relax here by the fire before being reminded of the danger that was before them. A moment later, Bard entered again and plopped a pile of something wrapped in cloth on the table in the center of the room. The dwarves congregated around the table and collectively pulled the cloth off of what was to be their weapons. Karra half hoped to find something like the little sword she had lost in Mirkwood, but…no such luck.

As soon as the weapons were visible, cries of surprise and disgust erupted from the dwarves. They looked more like tools than weapons! Huge, unwieldy, and crudely made, there was not a bit of elegance of any kind about them. Karra picked up one that looked slightly easier to handle than the others, and dropped it back on the table in surprise. It was heavier than it looked! _Guess I didn't inherit the dwarven strength from my dad's side of the family. _

"We paid for weapons," some of the dwarves insisted. They simply could not accept these things, these crude imitations of _real _weapons. Bard insisted that it was the best he could give them. All others were found in the city armory, and that was kept locked at all times, only to be entered by permission of the Master. After a bit of arguing amongst themselves, the dwarves seemed to have come to the conclusion that they should just take what Bard had offered them and go, only to be stopped by Bard. They couldn't leave until dark, he told them. There were spies watching. And with that, he turned and left the house.

Karra watched as the door slammed shut. "Well," she said, pulling her shawl closer around her and taking a sip of her drink, "I guess we can relax now."

"Relax?" Dwalin looked around at the other dwarves. "No, I do not think we can do that just yet."

* * *

"Karra. It's time to go." Karra felt someone shaking her by the shoulder and opened her eyes.

"What?" she said sleepily. "Go? Where are we—oh yeah!" She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "We're going now? It's dark and we know where the armory is?"

"Yes to both questions," Fili said with a grin. "Bilbo found the armory and figured out how to get in, and the sun is nearly set. Come on." He pulled her to her feet and she followed him, rubbing her eyes. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, but evidently things had happened.

They joined the group just outside the door of the house. Seeing that everyone was with them, Thorin spoke. "We will split up," he ordered in a low voice. "I will lead the first group this way," he pointed, "and Bilbo will lead the second group that way. Meet at the armory. As soon as we have the weapons, we make straight for the mountain."

Karra found herself in Bilbo's group as they made their way through the darkened town. The sun had just sunk below the horizon, and a lingering afterglow remained. They snuck down alleys and through shortcuts, pausing every time they thought someone saw them. Finally they reached what Karra assumed to be the armory, and they came a stop, crouching behind a boat. The second group joined them a moment later.

The dwarves already seemed to have worked out a plan to get in. How much had they discussed while Karra was asleep? Obviously they didn't think she had good enough ideas to wake her up and actually ask for her input. Standing one on top of another's shoulders, they made a sort of human—or rather dwarven—ladder to a small window at the top of the building.

To Karra's dismay, she was inexplicably picked to be the first to enter. Not daring to protest, she hiked up her skirt as much as she dared, and, stepping on the dwarves' shoulders, she climbed carefully up to the window, opened it, nearly lost her balance standing on the last dwarf's shoulder, and fell in. She sent a thumbs up to the rest of the company still on the ground, and looked around her.

To her right, she saw a flight of steps that seemed to lead to more weapons. She climbed it carefully, trying to keep from stepping on her skirt, and began to pick through piles of weapons, trying to find something she could carry easily. She found a nice little short sword that seemed about her size, and started to slip it into her belt, only to realize that she didn't have her belt anymore.

A couple more dwarves popped through the window one at a time. Leaving about half the company outside to keep watch, they began to gather weapons. Karra piled about four swords in her arms and decided that was all she could carry. Kili was just starting down the steps, with a somewhat larger pile of weapons in his arms, and she followed him.

It was then that her foot caught on her long skirt and she tripped. Trying to catch herself, she grabbed onto Kili, and his legs buckled under him. With a crash, Karra, Kili and the two piles of weapons all tumbled down the stairs. The weapons clanged and smashed into each other as they fell, and Karra let out a little scream.

They landed at the bottom with a thump. Karra fell on top of Kili, who let out a grunt. Rolling over and off him, she got to her feet with a groan. _I've ruined everything. Now they're going to come find us and throw us all in jail. _

Kili remained sitting a moment longer. "You okay?" Karra finally asked.

"I'm fine," he said, and winced. He stood and limped over to Karra, awkwardly gathering up the weapons he had dropped. They stared at each other, both obviously thinking the same thing. There was a moment of silence. Then there was a noise outside the building.

"Well, why are we just standing here?" Karra said in a low voice. "Do something! Hide, or something!" Taking her own advice, she scrambled behind a pile of weapons as the noises came closer. Kili was just starting to do the same when a key turned in the lock. Karra ducked down and tried not to breathe as two guards entered with a torch.

"A thief, eh?" one of them said, seeing Kili standing there. "Any more of you here?" Kili just stared defiantly at the guards, as if willing them to take him. There was a noise upstairs. One of the guards glanced up. Karra held her breath.

"Up there!" the guard cried, and two more guards appeared in the door behind him. "Guard this one," he ordered, grabbing Kili and shoving him in the general direction of the other man. He motioned for the others to follow him upstairs. Pretty soon the rest of the dwarves were hustled down, protesting and cursing. Karra squirmed further into the corner, trying not to disturb any weapons and breathing as quietly as she could. The dwarves were led out the door, and from the noises outside, Karra guessed that a small squabble was going on.

The noises began to fade, and Karra wiggled into a more comfortable position, though still hidden, lest any stray guards come to search the area. She glanced around the shadowy, silent arsenal, and couldn't help wondering if anyone—or any_thing_—else was hiding there.

After a while, she felt comfortable sitting up and poking her head over the pile of weapons. No one seemed to be coming back, at least not at the moment.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, trying to formulate some sort of plan in her head. The rest of the company was probably in jail now, and the minute she stepped outside, she would be found by a guard or anyone else and thrown in jail too. As far as she knew, there was nothing she could do to help them. It wasn't like she could single-handedly free them all from jail, even if she knew where the jail was.

She must have drifted off to sleep at some point, for when she opened her eyes, it seemed lighter. She cautiously got to her feet and walked quietly over to a window. Standing on her tiptoes, she peeked out. It must have been early morning, for there was an orange glow on the horizon that spoke of the beginning of a sunrise. She had definitely fallen asleep. She felt a little silly. The rest of the company had just gotten captured and she was sleeping, doing nothing.

Careful not to bump anything or make any kind of noisy clatter, she tiptoed to the door and tried the knob. The door swung open, letting out a loud creak. Karra jumped and darted back into the armory. Seeing that no one seemed to be coming after a moment, she stepped back out, looking around cautiously. She didn't know where she was going or what she was doing, but she couldn't just stay in there forever.

An early morning mist rose off of the lake, making Karra shiver. Clouds were beginning to form overhead, foreboding a coming storm of some sort. She stood and looked around for a minute, wondering where to go, then headed back in the direction of Bard's house. They knew her there and maybe they could help.

She turned one corner after another, and slowly began to realize that she had no idea where she was going. She stopped and looked around. None of this looked familiar. And she couldn't stop and ask anyone for directions; she would surely be reported and thrown into jail with the rest of the company. She sat down in a corner to think.

It must have been at least ten minutes later when she saw the figure of a man approaching. She huddled back closer against the wall, hoping he would mistake her for a hobo or something and leave her. But as he walked past, she recognized him.

"Hey!" she cried, jumping to her feet. "Bard! Wait!" He didn't turn around, so she ran after him. "I need your help!" She finally caught up to him, out of breath and panting. It was then that he noticed her, stopped, and turned.

"What is it?" he asked, and he obviously had something else on his mind.

Karra suddenly realized that she didn't really know what to say to him, or even what exactly she needed his help with. But he was the only person she knew in this town, and maybe he knew where he was going and maybe he knew something she could do to help the dwarves.

"I…I got left behind," she fumbled, trying to think what she should say as she was saying it. "I mean, the guards didn't find me when they found the rest of the dwarves. I…you do know what happened, don't you?" she interrupted herself.

Just then it seemed to dawn on him who she was. "You're one of the dwarves!" he said.

Karra put her hands on her hips. "I thought you already knew that."

Bard didn't reply, only grabbed her by the arm. "Come with me," he said.

"Hey!" she cried, struggling against his grip. "Where are you taking me?" Surely _he _wasn't going to betray her and hand her over to the authorities!

"To the rest of your company," he said, pulling her along behind him firmly. "They're going before the Master now."

"W…what does that mean?" Karra said, panting as she tried to keep up with the man's long strides. "What's going to happen?"

"Do you think I know what's going to happen?" he said, and Karra wondered what had gotten him so grumpy. She almost said as much, but decided it would probably be better not to. "But whatever does happen," he continued, "you must not be allowed to enter that mountain."

Karra planted her feet firmly in the dock and refused to take another step. "What did you say?" she exclaimed angrily. "You can't stop us!"

"Oh, I can't?" He tugged at her arm. "If you wake the dragon, the entire city will be destroyed! It is hopeless, I tell you."

"No!" cried Karra, tugging back. "We're so close!" She desperately tried to think of something, anything to say that would make him change his mind. They were so close! They couldn't be stopped by some pessimistic little…Karra cut off that thought before it came out of her mouth. The worst thing she could do at the moment would be to insult him.

"Come with me," he said firmly. Karra jerked her arm out of his grip and stood there, staring at him defiantly. And idea popped into her head and she acted on it impulsively. "Maybe…" she began, speaking quickly lest he walk away and leave her behind, "maybe we were meant to enter the mountain." She paused, trying to formulate her thoughts. "You know, fate. We…we got this far, and through all sorts of obstacles." She grew more confident as she spoke. "Don't you think it's a bad idea to try to prevent fate? I mean, you might get in the middle of something you were never meant to be in the middle of." She bit her lip, realizing that she sounded much less convincing than she had meant to.

Bard stopped and turned. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to be thinking. _You've gotta be kidding me! I actually stopped him! Did I hit on a prophecy or something?_

_A prophecy! _The idea hit her so hard she nearly fell over. Without stopping to think it through, she plunged onward. If she was wrong, he would think she was crazy. But then again, she probably had nothing to lose in that area anyway. "And what about the prophecy?" she blurted out, hoping against hope she was right, and a prophecy really did exist. "Don't you think that trying to prevent a prophecy from happening would be like…um…" her voice trailed off as she tried to think of a fitting simile for the situation. "Like…well…trying to dry out Laketown?" Okay, that had sounded a little cheesy.

A look of something like amazement spread across his face, and he leaned down and grabbed her shoulder. "How do you know about the prophecy?" he said, his voice low and intense.

"I…" Karra stared up at him, her eyes wide. So there was a prophecy! "I just know," she said, thinking hard. "I've heard of it, I guess." She felt her credibility starting to slip, and tried hard to keep her face neutral.

"The prophecy has been forgotten for years," he said, as if to himself. "Some say it isn't even a prophecy at all, only a poem quoted by some old man claiming to be a sage." He turned back to her. "How do you know?" he asked again.

Karra blinked, bit her lip, and thought fast. "My father told me about it," she said, her heart beating wildly. "He was a dwarf. He hoped I would live to see the King Under the Mountain's return." She was just thinking up random stuff now, and she hoped she was hitting somewhere close to the actual thing.

Bard stared at her a moment more, obviously trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. Then he turned, grabbed her by the arm once again, and said, "Come with me."

Karra resisted the urge to let out a sigh of relief. She had convinced him to do something. She didn't know what he was doing, but maybe he would help them now. Or at least leave them alone. And she hoped he didn't demand any further explanation from her, because she didn't have one. She didn't even know what this so-called prophecy _was. _

She followed him willingly through the streets of the town. She had to take two steps for every one of his, and pretty soon she was out of breath. She began to fall behind. She heard the noise of a very large crowd in the distance and walked faster, trying to catch back up to the man. He rounded a corner ahead of her and stopped, and she nearly ran into him. They were standing in the back of the city square. People were everywhere. A man who Karra assumed to be 'The Master' stood on the steps of a building in front of the crowd.

"…and I welcome you, Thorin Oakenshield, you and all your company!" he was saying. "Welcome to this city, and may you bring us all much prosperity!" The crowd let out a huge cheer. Karra added her voice to the noise. They had been accepted!

Bard looked down at her, and their eyes met. She gave him a little saucy grin.

* * *

_Well, I'm not usually a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writer, but I totally did that in this chapter. You would not have wanted to read my first draft—it was a mess. I literally had no idea where I wanted the chapter go. I only knew I didn't want her to get captured with the rest of the dwarves, and I wanted her to change a little something. The whole thing with the prophecy was a second-draft idea, and I had literally written up to the point when she got left behind in the armory before I actually thought of it! Ugh, writer's problems._


	27. Chapter 27-Late Night Laketown Partyin'

_**Author's Note: **__Well, after I wrote this chapter I realized that I was taking a view of Laketown that was slightly more like the book—the people aren't quite so poor and the Master isn't quite so unfriendly. _

_**Author's Note #2: **__I think Karra's hair might have become a character of its own by now. Maybe I should name it. _

* * *

**Chapter 28-Late Night Laketown Partyin'**

"Here we are," the young girl said, opening a door and showing Karra into her room. "I hope it suits you well."

"Thank you, I'm sure it will," Karra said with a smile. The room was simple, with only a bed, a dresser, and a mirror, but it was certainly the nicest place she had slept in a long time.

After the Master had 'officially' welcomed to the town, the people had insisted on leading them through the streets, cheering. Karra had thought they were making too big of a deal of it, but hey, it wasn't like she didn't like the attention. After that, the Master had made another speech, then Thorin had made a speech, then they had eaten lunch, or whatever they called it here. Dinner? Karra could never keep that kind of thing straight. All this revelry had taken up a good part of the morning, and finally the Master had ordered that they be given rooms in the nicest establishment they could conjure up. The young servant girl had led Karra to this room, and here she was, still reeling a little from all the chaos. She plopped down on the bed, hoping she would finally get a chance to actually rest now. She glanced in the mirror and thought of something.

"Wait!" she called.

"Yes, miss?" The girl poked her head in the door again.

"Can I have a comb?" Karra asked. She didn't see one sitting on the dresser, and she was not going to pass up the opportunity.

"Certainly, miss." The girl dropped a curtsy and left again. Karra lay back on the bed, resting her head on the pillow. It felt nice, but after all the crazy activity of the morning, she felt as if she couldn't go to sleep if she wanted to.

The door opened and the girl entered again. "Here you are," she said, handing a smallish comb to Karra. She took it with a grin and thanked the girl.

"Are you…" the girl began, hesitating in the doorway. "Are you a dwarf?" she asked quizzically.

"Umm…" Karra said, briefly wondering what she should tell her.

"You don't really look like one," the girl said shyly, and closed the door behind her, leaving Karra to wonder whether that was a complement or not. She grinned. She was certainly glad she didn't have a beard.

She slid off the bed and walked to the mirror. The comb was much too small for her mass of hair, but it would do. She stared at her reflection for a minute, wondering where to even start. She finally just began in the front, but he first time she tried to pull the comb through her hair, it got stuck. It took her at least five minutes the extricate it, and as she stared at herself in the mirror, she began to realize it was kind of hopeless.

Looking around, she didn't see what she wanted. She walked over to the door, opened it again, and called down the hallway.

The same young girl appeared around the corner. "Yes?"

"Can I have a pair of scissors?" Karra asked, hoping scissors existed in Middle-Earth. Surely they had things other than knives and swords here?

The girl stared at her for a minute, and then it seemed to dawn on her what Karra was saying. "Your hair is lovely," she said shyly. "I don't think—"

Karra cut her off with a wave of her hand. "It's not lovely when it's like this," she said with a laugh. "Just get me a pair of scissors, okay?" The girl nodded and left with something of a shrug.

Karra stared into the mirror again. Her hair was _lovely_? She had never thought of it that way. Fun to play with, perhaps, and a bit of a nuisance, but certainly not _lovely. _And after dealing with it for months in the wild, she didn't really care anyway.

The girl returned quickly with a pair of scissors. "I…I still don't think you should cut it," she said, handing the scissors to Karra hesitantly. Karra only thanked her and shooed her out the door. As soon as she was gone, she turned back to the mirror. Pulling her hair back in a loose ponytail, she tied it again with the strip of cloth she had torn off her old shirt. The scissors were too small, just like the comb, but after hacking and snipping at it a couple of times, she had a pile of thick red hair lying at her feet.

She stared at the pile for a minute, wondering what to do with it. She finally just scooped it up and stuffed it into what she assumed was a wastebasket…well, she hoped that was what it was. Gosh, she thought, did she really have _that _much hair?

Her now-short hair looked ridiculously fluffy without the weight of the rest of it pulling it down. She dipped her comb in the basin of water that served as a sink and ran it through her hair, hoping to calm it down a little, but was pretty much unsuccessful. Her hair bounced away from her comb as if it were glad to be free. During her travels, it had grown nearly to her waist, and _she _felt free not having to carry the weight of it. She sighed and plopped back down on the bed. She wasn't sure what she thought of herself with short hair. The only time she had ever cut it this short was when she was ten years old. And she hadn't really been too worried about her appearance then.

There came a knock on the door. She sighed and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. Would she _ever _get a chance to rest? Standing up reminded her once again how weird and light her hair felt. She shook her head and walked over to the door.

She opened it to find Fili standing there.

"Hi!" she said.

Fili stared at her blankly.

She raised an eyebrow. "I know, I know," she said, rolling her eyes. "I thought it would be more practical. And it's nice to know that you dwarven men notice when a lady changes her hairstyle," she added with a laugh.

Fili nodded. "It's practical," he said politely.

"You don't like it, do you?"

"Well…"

"I know. Dwarves like their women with lots of hair," she said and laughed again, this time a little nervously.

"No, no, I wasn't saying that…" Fili began, then trailed off. "It looks quite nice, really. Just different." Karra grinned, half glad to see that she wasn't the only one who could be awkward. "Anyway," he said, changing the subject abruptly, "I came to tell you that the Master—or rather the people—have declared a feast tonight in our honor."

"Oh. Okay," she said a little uncomfortably. "Well…thanks. Um, well…bye." She gave him a little wave as he turned and walked away. She stared after him, suddenly and sincerely wishing she hadn't cut her hair, no matter how much of a nuisance it had been. She sighed and plopped back down on the bed. Now what?

* * *

A ray of late afternoon sun peeked through the window of Karra's room, landing on her face. Her eyes popped open and she sat up. Would she _ever _get a chance to take a proper nap? She had just been dozing off!

Her afternoon had been a series of interrupted attempts to rest. First she had decided to take a short walk in an attempt to calm down from her hectic morning and night. Well, a short walk had turned into a longer one as she realized she didn't know her way around Laketown. Just as she thought she was really lost, she had bumped into the same young girl who had showed her to her room earlier, and who showed to her to her room again. Then she had realized that she still smelled of fish, and decided she should clean up before the feast. Then came the task of actually figuring out how she was supposed to take a bath here. She never did figure that out…she ended up just washing herself off in her 'sink' and scrubbing herself down with some soap that happened to be sitting there. She guessed they must have baths or showers or some sort here, but she didn't really want to ask some random person about where she was supposed to clean up.

And then, just as she was settling down for a rest, there came another knock on the door. This time it was another dwarf, coming to tell her the same thing Fili had told her earlier. She had politely thanked him for the _new information, _and closed to door politely in his face. And she had just begun to actually doze off when she realized how late it was.

She slid down off the bed and slipped her feet into her boots. Had all that seriously taken all afternoon? What time was it, anyway? She stepped out the door and realized it was even later than she had thought it would be. The sun was nearing the horizon. Why, she was probably late for the banquet! She began to walk faster, and then realized she had no idea where to go.

She stopped, looking around her. Not _again! _And now everyone was probably at the feast, so there would be nobody to ask. She sighed. How could she have lost track of time like this?

She leaned against the wall of a house, wondering what to do now. Did she try to find the banquet hall and inevitably get lost again? Or did she just sit here and wait for someone to walk by?

She didn't really have to decide, for a moment later, someone actually did walk by. Karra didn't recognize the woman as anyone she'd seen yet, and she hesitated a moment before calling, "Hey!"

The woman turned.

"Do…do you know where the…uh…feast is taking place?" Karra asked, fumbling a little with her words. The woman seemed to be looking down her nose at her, and it made Karra want to turn and run.

"Oh, you're one of those dwarves that arrived last night," she said with a sniff. "I've never really thought much of that old prophecy. Well, the banquet hall is down that street and around that corner, if you must know." And having completed the obligations of politeness, she turned and swept away with an air of snootiness about her.

_Well, I guess every town has one, _Karra thought as she walked down the street. Thank goodness the whole town hadn't treated them like that; they might be in jail or taking a significantly longer route to the mountain if they had. The fact that someone other than Bard knew about the prophecy intrigued her, though. If she ever got the chance, she would _have _to get her hands on this thing to see what it really was. Because if there really was a prophecy about them, that was pretty darn awesome.

Hearing the sounds of a crowd in the near distance, she began to run. She rounded a corner and found herself standing in front of a large-ish building with its doors thrown wide open. People filled the large room inside. She ran up the steps. Reaching the top, she caught her foot on the bottom of her skirt and fell to her knees inside the room.

Everything went quiet.

Karra looked up slowly. Had everyone seriously seen what she had just done?

The heads nearest her were turned towards the front of the room. She sighed with relief. So they weren't looking at her. She got to her feet and tried to peer through the crowd. She heard the Master beginning to say speak. She still couldn't see what was going on, so she contented herself with listening for the moment.

The Master introduced the dwarves with pleasure. From the tone of his voice, Karra couldn't quite tell whether he was genuinely happy that they had arrived or not, but the people certainly were. They cheered as the Master called the dwarves up to the front to be recognized.

A moment later, it hit her. _I need to be up there too! _She elbowed her way through the crowd as quickly as she could and dashed forward. She was the last one to the front, panting and out of breath, with her hair and dress still disheveled from running through the crowd. She grinned nervously out at the people and gave an awkward little wave. At least one person snickered and Karra tried not to flush.

Thorin stepped forward. Karra sighed with relief. He had taken the attention of the crowd off her little display of awkwardness. She stepped halfway behind another dwarf and wished she could disappear entirely.

Thorin began to speak, but was interrupted as the crowd gave a swelling cheer. When the noise died down, he began to make a speech, but since he was interrupted about every sentence by a cheer, he decided to keep it short, for which Karra was very thankful. In closing, he announced, "Let the feasting begin!" and led the company from the front of the room to a table designated for them. Karra purposely slid in beside Fili.

"You're here," he said with a grin.

"Yeah," Karra said dryly. "And I think everybody knows that now. Sorry I was late…I kind of lost track of time."

"I think we all did," he replied.

"Yeah, but—" she began, but her remark was cut short when a large platter of food was set on the table before them and she suddenly realized how hungry she was. She began to pile food on her plate along with the other dwarves.

"I'm sorry I was rude to you earlier," Fili said as soon as he had finished filling his plate.

"Rude?" Karra said blankly. "About what?"

"Your hair."

"Oh. I didn't think you were rude," Karra said through a mouthful of food. "Sorry." She swallowed and continued talking. "You were just surprised." She grinned. "I'm sure I would have been surprised too." She thought of Fili with hair as short as hers and wanted to laugh, but didn't. Instead she stuffed another heap of food into her mouth. "Mmm, this is good. I didn't realize how hungry I was."

A glass of something was set in front of her. She looked at it for a minute, then turned to the dwarf on the other side of her. "What is this?" she asked.

He took a large drink of his own glass. "Prime Laketown ale," he said.

"Oh." She set the glass down. She had already embarrassed herself enough this evening, so there was no way she was going to let herself drink too much of this stuff. Besides, her mom would probably have a fit if she knew her daughter was drinking ale.

The loud buzz of conversation drowned out any more attempts to talk. Karra finished her plateful of food and heaped more on. She knew she was being a greedy dwarf, and didn't care. She grinned thinking of how shocked she had been at the dwarves manners when she first met them. Now she was just like them. How shameful.

She heard a shout from the end of the table. "Come on, lads!" Bofur cried. "Follow me!" He began to sing a lusty tune, and soon the whole table was following him. Karra tapped her foot but didn't sing along, being the only one who didn't know the words. But pretty soon she was humming, and then she was picking up the words as they came. The song soon degenerated into hearty laughter and much drinking of the Laketown ale.

The feasting wore on all evening, and the later it got, the less contained it was. The laughter grew louder, and the people grew merrier, until finally the kegs of stronger ale were brought out. Karra couldn't help groaning; the dwarves were all 'merry' enough, did they really need any more?

Bofur raised his glass in the air, sploshing some out onto the table. "I propose a toast," he said with a large lopsided grin, "to the lovely lady in our midst." Sidling over to Karra, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She laughed and tried to give a little curtsy, succeeding only in tripping over the hem of her skirt again.

"To Karra!" cried Kili, jumping to his feet, and falling back onto his chair with a little groan.

"I heartily agree!" Fili said, raising his glass, then turned to his brother. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly. Karra grinned. At least _somebody _still had their wits about them.

Bofur took another large swig of his glass and clapped Karra on the back so hard she nearly fell over. She spluttered and laughed, plopping back down in her chair again.

The hum of conversation and rowdy laughter grew even louder. Karra figured it must be near midnight by now. She felt like she should be getting to bed soon. She scooted her chair to the end of the table and watched the crowd. She felt as if she were the only one not joining in the revelry. She sighed.

She was beginning to feel as if she _must _get away from all these people. She stood up and began to work her way through the people towards the door. A woman tapped her on the elbow and she turned.

"Are you one of the dwarves?" the woman asked. Karra nodded and tried to smile. "I've never seen a dwarf before," the woman said wonderingly. _As if I'm a very good representation of one, _Karra thought wryly. Before the woman could start a conversation, Karra disappeared into the crowd again.

Once out the door, she sat down on one of the steps and took a deep breath of the cool night air. The noise of the crowd was much less out here, and she already felt refreshed.

She sensed a presence behind her and jumped. She turned to see another dwarf standing there, silhouetted by the light coming from the doors. Her eyes managed to focus on him and she recognized Fili.

"Oh, hi," she stammered.

"I was wondering where you went!" he exclaimed.

"I just needed some space," she said. "Too much noise."

"And too many people drinking ale?" he said with a grin.

"Yeah," Karra agreed.

Fili sat down beside her, and or a moment they just looked around at the empty nighttime town. "Well…" Fili said after a minute. He motioned towards the doors.

"No!" Karra said emphatically. "I'm done with the party for the night. I think I might go to bed soon." She sniffed. "Do you realize you still smell like fish?" she said.

Fili laughed. "So do you," he said. Karra wrinkled her nose.

"Do I?" she said. "I guess I do." She sniffed again, and brushed his hair with her finger. "Don't tell me you still have fish slime in your hair," she said. Then she giggled. That had sounded funny for some reason. Fili chuckled. Their eyes met, and she giggled even more. Pretty soon she was giggling uncontrollably.

"Karra…" Fili began with a laugh. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" cried Karra, unable to stop another giggle from coming out. A thought popped into her head, and unable to stop another burst of giggles, she choked out, "There was a fish starting at me!"

"What?" Fili said with a chuckle.

"I just thought of…" she giggled again. "It looked so funny!" she gasped. "We were sitting there in the barrel, and there was this…this dead fish…and it was staring right at me…"

"Karra, what is wrong?" Fili asked, unable to keep a smile off his face. "Are you sure you haven't been…"

"No!" cried Karra, the corners of her lips twitching. "I didn't drink any of that ale! I'm just….I guess I'm just getting slapsilly." She began to giggle again. Fili chuckled. "Please!" she cried. "You'll only make it worse!"

"I think it might be time for you to go to bed," Fili said with a laugh.

"Yeah, me too," she said with another giggle. Her voice trailed off and suddenly she was very tired. "Yeah, that actually sounds really good," she said. "I'm so tired…" She slumped onto Fili's shoulder, not finding anymore giggles in her. "So much has happened today…"

"I understand," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "Come on, I'll take you to your room." He stood up and helped her to her feet. Realizing as she followed him how very tired she really was, she let him lead her through the streets of the town, vaguely wondering how he knew them so much better than she did. She wasn't even sure how much walking they did, only that they reached her room much sooner than she would have on her own. He opened the door for her with a smile.

"Thanks," she said softly. As soon as the door closed, she slipped her boots off and tumbled into bed. She was asleep within a couple of minutes.

* * *

_I'M SEEING THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES TOMORROW AND JUST I'M SO EXITED AND NERVOUS AND EXITED. But that also means that I'll be taking a break on this story for a loooong while...I'll have to have time to figure out how I want to write the next section, the part that takes place during the last movie. But don't worry, you will get two more chapters. I have to the end of the Desolation of Smaug pretty much finished (pretty much…)._


	28. Chapter 28-Durin's Day

_**Author's Note: **__Happy day after Christmas! I saw the Battle of Five Armies last Friday and IT WAS SO GOOD I JUST CAN'T EVEN but I'm having trouble processing it all still and I really really need to see it again. So there you go, my in-depth and well-thought-out analysis. ;) __But I'm already starting to plan out the next part of this story in my head, so maybe there won't be quite as long of a break as I thought there would be. Big maybe though. _

* * *

**Chapter 28-Durin's Day**

Early morning sun streamed through Karra's window and she rolled over and opened her eyes. Something significant was happening today, but she couldn't quite remember what it was. It had something to do with the quest and the company. But whatever it was, it couldn't be happening _right now, _so surely she could sleep just a little longer. She rolled over, yawned, and burrowed back into the covers.

Wait! They were leaving for the mountain today! That was it! She nearly fell out of bed in her hurry. They could be leaving any minute! Her feet were just touching the floor when she heard a knock on the door. With another yawn, she rubbed her eyes and stood up. Maybe she could hurry just a little bit slower. She was already regretting jumping out of bed so quickly.

She opened to door, still feeling groggy and unkempt from sleeping. Bilbo stood there, looking expectant. "Yes?" Karra said, resisting another yawn.

"It's nearly time to leave!" he said with a laugh. "You're up late."

"Late?" She stared at him. "It seems pretty early to me."

Bilbo laughed. He seemed so awake and alert this morning, and it was kind of getting on Karra's nerves. "You'd best get changed and come with me," he said. "Or they might leave without us."

Karra stared at him blankly. "Changed?"

Bilbo nodded to something in her room. Karra followed his gaze and saw that a dress lay draped over her bed stand. "What in the—? Where did that come from?" she exclaimed. "Boy, I must have been really asleep!" She made a little shooing motion with her hands, as if to say _I need my privacy. _Bilbo nodded and backed out, closing the door behind him.

Now, where in the world had that dress come from? A maid must have snuck in and laid it on her bed stand while she was asleep, but…really? Someone could have come in and stabbed her in her sleep, for goodness sakes!

With that disturbing thought still in her mind, she picked up the dress and looked it over. Made of a rich dark blue fabric with silver trim, it seemed to be both practical and pretty. Now if only the maid had thought to bring her some other _shoes_ as well, she thought, staring at the dwarf boots that made her feet look considerably bigger than they were.

The dress was a little long, but otherwise it fit nicely. She ran a comb through her hair, though it didn't do much good; her now-short hair still fluffed out in all directions; and stepped out the door. Bilbo stood there, still waiting for her. "Come on," he said, taking her hand and practically pulling her along. "We don't want to be late."

"Because they might leave without us," Karra said, rolling her eyes.

Bilbo looked back at her, and said, his tone perfectly serious, "Yes, they might."

"Wait…" Karra stopped and stared at him. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure," Bilbo replied. "But I heard Thorin say that if someone didn't show up in time, we would leave without them. I think he was serious."

"Oh." Karra quickened her pace even more, letting the hobbit pull her along.

They cut through streets and alleyways, presumably taking the quickest route, though sometimes Karra got the feeling that Bilbo didn't know where he was going any more than she did. Finally, hearing the noise of a crowd in the near distance, they rounded a corner and came upon the company. They pushed their way through the people and found themselves being greeted enthusiastically by their fellow dwarves.

"Karra! I'm so glad you got here in time!" cried Kili, clapping her on the back. She grinned. "Here," he said, handing her a short sword and a sword belt to carry it in. She stood there briefly wondering what to do with both of the things, but was pushed along by the crowd.

They were escorted through a couple of streets, and finally they arrived at what Karra assumed to be their departure point, for there were some boats tied to the dock, well stocked with supplies. Karra took advantage of the moment of being stopped to position her sword belt and sword on her waist. She was pretty sure she got it wrong, but it would do. She could ask someone how it worked later.

Almost before she realized what was happening, they were beginning to board the boats. She found herself stepping off the dock, willing herself not to trip and fall in the water or something. For once, she didn't do anything clumsy, and pretty soon she was standing in one of the boats, grinning out at the crowd. She felt like a celebrity.

Fili stepped in beside her and took her hand briefly. "I'm glad you got here," he said.

"Yeah, me too," she replied. "I must have been pretty tired last night…." Her voice trailed off as she remembered the embarrassing giggle fit, and she turned away. He tapped her on the shoulder.

"Need help with that?" he asked, nodding to her sword belt.

Karra raised an eyebrow. "Does it look that bad?" she asked. Fili just grinned. "Alright, alright, I do need help," she admitted. He reached forward and was just beginning to help her reposition it when he seemed to notice something happening on the dock. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, turning and beginning to step off the boat. "I'll be back." Karra watched him disappear into the crowd, wondering what was suddenly so important. She turned to Bilbo, who was standing beside her.

"Do you know how this works?" she asked him, pointing to her sword belt. He was about to reply when the Master of Laketown began to speak. Thorin stepped aboard the boat. Karra wondered where Fili was, but she supposed he was coming.

The people quieted as the Master continued to speak. Karra looked around for Fili and Kili. Where were they? She didn't see them on any of the boats, and looking around in the crowd….wait, there they were! And they didn't seem to be coming.

Hoping no one asked what she was doing, and hoping the Master's little speech lasted long enough for her to find out what Fili and Kili were up to and get back, she quietly hopped out of the boat and blended into the crowd, heading in the direction she had last seen them. She nearly bumped into them before realizing she had found them.

"What're you doing?" she asked in a whisper. "Aren't you coming?"

The three dwarves—for it seemed that Oin too stayed on shore—stared at her for a moment. Almost imperceptibly, Fili shook his head. "You…you're not coming?" Karra said, wrinkling her brow. "But why?"

Fili shook his head again, and Karra could see the regret on his face. "I'm sorry, Karra," he said softly, careful not to draw attention to the four of them standing there in the middle of the crowd. "I have to. Kili is…wounded."

"I knew that!" cried Karra. "But surely…" her voice trailed off and she stared at him. "You have to stay?" she said, biting her lip to keep back the catch in her throat. Fili nodded. Karra closed her eyes for a moment and looked down. What should she do now? Did she go with the company or stay with Fili?

"And may they bring good fortune to us all!" finished the Master, and the crowd let out a cheer.

"Go!" cried Fili, giving Karra a little nudge forward. "The boats are leaving!"

"But—" protested Karra. "I—"

"You can't lose this opportunity on account of us," Kili insisted. Karra could see the pain on his face, and realized how badly he must be wounded. "Go on!"

"But—I—"

Fili gave her a little nudge. "Don't give up this opportunity to see the door to your father's home opened because of me," he said softly. Karra bit her lip. "Go on! They'll leave without you!" He practically shoved her forward through the crowd, and she gave one look back at him and ran, pushing her way towards the boats.

"Wait!" she cried, jumping forward just as the last boat pushed off. She leaped off the dock and fell on her face in the bottom of the boat. She sat up with a groan, but at least she hadn't landed in the water. The boat pushed forward, and she gave a last glance back at the shore. She caught Fili's eye for just a moment, and then they rounded a corner and were on their way. She continued staring at the crowd of people on the shore until she couldn't see it anymore. Had she made the right decision?

They rowed their way through Laketown and onto the open lake. Karra found herself growing more and more nervous as the day wore on. Maybe she should have stayed in Laketown. They were going to face a dragon, and they were only eleven dwarves—no, ten, she realized as she counted them, for they seemed to have left Bofur behind too—and a hobbit. And it wasn't like she, Karra, could do much of anything against a dragon. At best, she'd make some clumsy mistake and get herself in trouble. At worst, she'd get all the other dwarves in trouble too.

"Here is where we leave the boats." Thorin's voice interrupted her thoughts. The pulled the boats up on shore and stepped out. The mist still clung to the lake like a veil.

They piled the supplies into packs provided for them and divided them up as evenly as possible among the company. Karra got a pack full of food. She couldn't even find it in her to make some comment about how she had control of all the food now. Soon they were off again, leaving the boats sitting along the shore.

They walked in silence for a long while. It was an expectant silence that might have held a little uneasiness, and it bothered Karra. She was sure they were all thinking of what was going to happen. And maybe they were all just as nervous as she was.

They walked into the rolling foothills of the mountain. Karra found distraction from her nervous anticipation in the beautiful scenery around her. They stopped once, and Karra found herself looking over the edge of a hill at a ruined, blackened city—the ruins of Dale, the desolation of Smaug, as Balin explained.

And they continued walking. Towards the mountain, and towards the threat of the dragon.

* * *

Karra rapped once on the wall of the mountain with her knuckles, wondering what a door would sound like. The map had said it should be around here somewhere, but they hadn't found a thing. Shading her eyes from the sun, she peered up the side of the mountain. Something looked strange about it—like it had been shaped, somehow. She plopped down with her back against the stone and ran her fingers through her hair, which fluffed out and clung to them with static. Yep, it was definitely winter.

"Up there!" she heard Bilbo's voice call, and she jumped to her feet again. Bilbo was pointing up the side of the mountain, and as she followed his finger with her gaze, she saw a thin line of steps running up the side of…that was what had looked so strange about it! It was a statue. A giant statue, carved into the side of the mountain.

Soon they were heading up the steps, up the side of the statue. Karra knew before they even started that the height would bother her, and it did. The steps were narrow and every time she looked down it practically took her breath away. Apparently the dwarves believed in railings even less than the elves did. When _she _was princess of Erebor, that was the first thing she was going to do, add railings to everything. Princess of Erebor? Where had that…yeah, princess of Erebor.

They couldn't have reached the top soon enough for Karra. She had found herself embarrassingly having to cling to the dwarf in front of her for most of the time, and she let out a sigh of relief when they stepped out onto a small platform carved out of the side of the mountain. She still stuck as close to the wall as she could, though.

"This must be it," Thorin said. "The hidden door!" He held the key in front of him triumphantly. "Let all those who doubted rue this day!" he cried with something disturbingly close to an evil laugh. The dwarves cheered, and Karra joined in a little weakly. Here they were, standing at the door to her father's home. Now they all seemed so ready now to face whatever lay inside…was she the only one who was nervous?

"We have the key," said Dwalin, surveying the side of the mountain. "Which means that somewhere there must be a keyhole."

Karra rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Mr. Obvious," she said, but grinned. The dwarves spread out along the wall, examining every inch of the rock. Karra stared out at the sun, half hoping she could trace one of its rays to the wall. _The last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole. _

The set sank lower and lower, and still they found nothing. Karra, at a loss for what to do, sat down and watched the others' endeavors. The dwarves became more and more desperate as the light began to wane. They kicked at the wall of the mountain, as if willing a door to open at their command. They examined every bit of the wall and knocked at it with their weapons. Nori began to tap at it with a spoon, supposedly sounding out the vibrations in hopes of finding the door. Still Karra sat there. They must be missing something. They had to be missing something. Surely they couldn't just find the door, just like that. There had to be some _trick, _some _secret. _

And they couldn't just break it down, either. For that was what the dwarves seemed to be doing now. They were all congregated at the wall, picking and hacking at it with their axes and weapons. Still Karra sat there, feeling terribly useless.

_The last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole. _The memory hit her so hard she nearly fell over—or would have had she been standing. She remembered her father reading to her from The Hobbit. She remembered nearly nothing about the story, but she standing here on the mountainside, she remembered this. A ray of sun had peeked out from behind a cloud and revealed the keyhole to them. And there was a cloud approaching the setting sun right now.

"Guys!" she cried. "This isn't going to work!" No one heard her, and she spoke louder. "You've got to listen to me! Guys! You can't break down the door!" Another thought occurred to her, and she nearly shouted, "If you keep on standing there in front of the wall, you're going to block the last light of Durin's day!"

At that, everyone stopped. "What did you say?" growled Dwalin.

"I said, you're going to block the light! What if the…the light that's supposed to shine on the keyhole is blocked by someone standing in front of it? What then?" She looked at the dwarves beseechingly, willing them to understand.

"I suppose I see what you're saying," Gloin said grudgingly.

The cloud moved over the sun.

"Although there's not much to block, now," Bombur said gloomily.

"No, no!" cried Karra. "The light…it's going to hit the keyhole any minute now!"

"How do you know so much?" one of the dwarves asked, glaring at her. She shrank back against the wall.

"I…I just know," she said. "Please, you have to believe me."

The cloud still covered the sun. Karra waited nervously. If she was wrong, they would never trust her again.

The cloud drifted away.

The sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving only a lingering twilight.

Karra stared in disbelief. This wasn't supposed to happen! The sun was supposed to peek out, one last time, and reveal the keyhole! What had gone wrong?

All heads turned towards her. She huddled close to the wall miserably. How was she supposed to explain herself now? _What had gone wrong? _

"I don't know what I was saying," she blurted out, answering the question before anyone asked it. "I was so sure. I was sure that was what was going to happen. I don't know what went wrong. I think I'm going crazy." A thought occurred to her. "I think maybe my presence here has messed something up. I think I might have ruined everything." Suddenly she began to cry. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry I was wrong."

"Don't cry, lass," Balin said, walking over and patting her on the shoulder. "Anyone could have made the same mistake."

"The last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole," Thorin said softly, a tone of something close to desperation in his voice. "What did we miss?"

"We've lost the light," Balin said, bowing his head. "There's nothing more to be done. We've lost our only chance."

Karra sniffled. _And it's my fault. I ruined everything by being here. _She huddled back further against the wall, hoping no one would see her. She felt a terrible weight of guilt descend on her. What had she done to mess things up so horribly? What would change because of this?

The dwarves turned, and slowly began to walk back down the steps. Still sniffling, Karra stood and followed them. There was no point in staying on this ledge staring at a door they couldn't open, a door they couldn't even find.

Vaguely, Karra thought she heard Bilbo's voice calling for them to wait, but she wasn't sure. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts even to think about the fact that they were hundreds of feet above the ground on steps that didn't have any railings. She began to feel a strange warmth at her chest, and looking down, she saw a white glow emanating from underneath the neckline of her dress.

She grasped at the key and pulled it out. It glowed white in her hand. The glow grew brighter, and she stared at it numbly. She began to feel a little queasy. The glow grew still brighter, almost hurting her eyes and giving her a headache. Still she stared at it, unable to think. The world began to spin around her. Vaguely, she saw the outline of a bed and dresser. The dresser had a picture sitting on it. Her mom and dad.

Suddenly she realized what was happening. With a little gasp, she tried to unclench her hand from around the key, but it wouldn't move. She began to feel as if she was floating, and a nauseated feeling rose in her stomach. She desperately tried to drop the key. Through the haze, she thought she heard someone calling her name. The outline of the mountain grew fuzzier and her room grew clearer. She squeezed her eyes shut. She felt someone or something grasp her hand, and then heard a clatter. The glow gradually subsided.

She just sat there for a moment, not daring to open her eyes, not wanting to see her apartment. No…no…this couldn't have happened. She had been with the company for so long. She couldn't be back in her apartment just as if nothing had happened. Fili. She would never see him again. She had lost Middle-Earth. How could she ever get back?

Tears stung her eyelids. She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped. What was someone doing in her apartment? She opened her eyes and saw Balin's face hovering over her.

"Are you alright, lass?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She blinked and looked around her. The mountain was just as clear as it had been, and she was still sitting on the steps leading up to the platform. She blinked again. Balin stood there, looking concerned.

She was still in Middle-Earth.

"Balin?" she managed to stutter out. "How…how am I still here?"

"Still here?"

"The key…it almost took me back…back to Earth." she said weakly. She still felt nauseated, but she was beginning to feel some of her strength returning. "It's Durin's day!" she cried. "Oh my gosh, the key was made on Durin's day." She stared up at Balin. "I get it now," she said softly. "But how did you stop it? The key, I mean."

"You called for help," he said. "I knew something was wrong."

Karra stared at him blankly. She didn't remember calling for help.

He took her hand and helped her to her feet. She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned gently on his shoulder. "Here you are," he said, pressing the key into her hand. She saw that it was no longer glowing. Still, she hesitated to take it.

"It's perfectly safe," he assured her. "Take it." She closed her fingers around the key and found herself clutching it. "I simply commanded it to stop with the ancient language of the dwarves, the language that was forged into this key."

She turned away, feeling awkward. "Thank you…" she said, not sure what else to say. If it wasn't for him, she would have lost this world and her friends here forever. And Fili. She would have lost Fili. "I don't know how…" she began, but heard a shout from the top of the mountain.

They looked at each other and started back up the steps. Karra felt her strength returning by the minute, and they were running by the time they reached the top. Thorin stood there, holding his key in his hand, looking triumphant.

"Wha…?" Karra began, but Bilbo practically interrupted her.

"It was the light of the moon!" he cried. "The last light of Durin's day!"

"But…but…." She stared at him, her eyes wide. _What had she missed? _She couldn't argue with good luck, and if they had really found the keyhole, well, that was good. But…this didn't make sense, none of it. She clearly remembered the last ray of sun shining out from behind the cloud. Had her presence here really changed that much? Changed the very nature of the magic that made up this world?

She _was _glad, though, for the rest of the dwarves' sakes, and somewhat for her own. She watched silently as Thorin inserted the key into the side of the mountain and the door swung open, revealing a gaping hole. She stared into the blackness, hoping to catch any glimpse of the kingdom that someday might be her home.

"Erebor," Thorin said softly.

_My father's home. _

* * *

_And here we have a collision of book and movie canon. *Picks up pieces of broken Middle-Earth.*_

_I have one more chapter written, but it's not very good. I really need to rewrite it and polish it, and I'm not sure how long that will take. But you will get another chapter, sometime soon. _


	29. Chapter 29-Smaug the Golden

_**Author's Note: **__Well…this isn't really exactly like the movie. The whole Smaug/molten gold sequence was so chaotic and confusing that I couldn't even figure out where Karra would have been in it, so I decided to write my own thing—for the most part. Some of it is from the movie. But some of it isn't. And this is a rather long-winded author's note. ;)_

* * *

**Chapter 29-Smaug the Golden**

Karra stared nervously into the darkness that was the tunnel leading into Erebor. She heard or saw no sign of the hobbit. Tapping her fingers restlessly on the floor, she glanced around at the other dwarves. Didn't they care? Bilbo had been in there for fifteen minutes now. They had sent him in to confront a dragon that was capable of destroying an entire kingdom, and they were supposed to just wait?

"So…what exactly are we doing?" she asked, and her voice seemed to echo down the tunnel. "Are we just…sitting here and waiting until something happens? Or what?"

A couple of the dwarves looked at her silently, and she turned away. Why didn't anyone seem to care? Slowly, some of the dwarves began to filter out onto the little platform. Karra had to bite her lip to keep from saying something sarcastic. _So now we have to sit outside. We can't even be inside the mountain even a little bit. _With a sigh, she followed the last dwarf out of the mountain and sat down with her back against the wall. It was dark now, and barely any lingering twilight was left.

"Guys?" Karra said after what seemed like an eternity. "Can't we do _something_?"

"Well," Dwalin growled, "what do you want to do?"

Karra glanced around at the faces of the other dwarves and sighed. Was she _really_ the only one who was nervous? "Nothing, I guess," she mumbled, slumping back against the wall. After a moment, she got to her feet and began to pace, and not looking where she was going, she found herself disconcertingly close to the edge. And then the mountain began to shake.

She was thrown to her knees and found herself staring straight over the edge to the ground hundreds of feet below. She let out a little scream and rolled backwards, gasping. "What was that?" she managed to squeak out, still breathing hard from the shock. Clenching her fists, she tried to calm her rising panic. She was fine. She hadn't gotten thrown over the edge. Everything was fine. She slowly began to work her way towards the wall, on her guard lest the mountain begin to shake again.

"Was that an earthquake?" Ori asked, a little quaver in his voice. Karra glanced at him. So someone else _was _nervous.

"That," said Balin slowly, "was a dragon."

"So…so Smaug's awake now?" Karra stuttered. "I mean, I guess I knew that, but…" _But I now I _know _it. _"Guys…we have to do _something_." _Anything. _

"Not yet," said Thorin sternly, not looking her in the face. "We will wait."

"Wait!" Karra exploded. "That's what we've been doing for the last half-hour! What are we waiting for? We're waiting of Bilbo to get killed, that's what we're waiting for!" She stopped suddenly, realizing what she had just said. "I mean…" she began, then stopped. "Well, I mean…I don't think…" She stopped again. Thorin was staring at her with a look of something like contained rage on his face. She backed away slightly and dropped her gaze. He turned and walked to the edge of the cliff, staring out into the night. Karra sighed with relief. Why was she suddenly so afraid of Thorin?

For a while, it was silent, save for a few scattered conversations among the dwarves. The ground shook again once, lightly this time. Karra absently began to play with a strand of her now-short hair, tugging on it so hard it hurt. She winced and got to her feet.

She couldn't take this any longer. She had to do something.

She began to tiptoe towards the door, not quite sure why she felt like she had to sneak, only that she did.

The ground shook again.

Karra bit her lip and stepped into the opening. Once inside, every step she took seemed to echo. As silently as she could, she tiptoed down the passageway and turned a corner. Her heart was beating very hard now. She didn't even know what she was doing, but at least she wasn't just sitting there waiting.

"Karra!" She heard the command barked from outside. She jumped and turned back, peeking nervously around the corner and out into the night. "I said we wait," Thorin said darkly.

Karra flushed and ran back down the corridor, feeling irritation rising in her chest. "I was just looking," she snapped, stepping out onto the platform. "Is that so bad?" Seeing the rest of the dwarves standing there doing nothing, she felt the last of her patience run out. "So we can't even take a peek in the hallway while Bilbo is in there possibly getting eaten by a dragon?" she cried. "You can send Bilbo in, but noooooo, none of us are allowed to go in!" Throwing all respect for their leader to the winds, she put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. "I guess you just want to make sure Bilbo gets your precious Arkenstone without any of us interfering, huh? I guess—"

"Karra!" Thorin snapped, and his voice had a hard edge to it. "Be silent!" He turned towards the door, and almost without warning, drew his sword.

"We enter," he said, his voice quiet and intense.

"Well, at least I finally managed to get through to him," Karra muttered to Balin as they followed their leader into the tunnel. He gave her a warning look and she closed her mouth and kept it closed.

Karra drew her sword and clenched her hand around it so hard it hurt. She suddenly felt dreadfully inadequate. She had convinced Thorin to enter, and now she was starting to wonder what had made her go and do something like that. If she hadn't lashed out at him like she had, maybe they wouldn't be about to face a dragon right now—maybe they would all be peacefully sitting on the platform, out of harm's way. But no. Bilbo. She would still be worrying about Bilbo.

The mountain shook again and there was a burst of orange light. The entire company began to run. There was another orange flash, and Bilbo suddenly came careening around a corner, breathing hard.

"You're alive!" cried Thorin.

"Not for long," panted Bilbo.

"Did you find the Arkenstone?" Thorin asked, putting a heavy hand on the hobbit's shoulder.

"The dragon's coming!" Bilbo cried.

"Did you find it?" Thorin asked again, and this time Karra thought his voice held a tinge of desperation.

"Who cares about the Arkenstone!" Karra blurted out breathlessly. "We have a dragon to deal with!"

Thorin turned towards her, his face once again cold and hard. "You!" he ordered. "You will stop this now!" Karra drew back, shaking a little. What would Thorin do to her for questioning his authority so many times this evening?

"We have to get out of here," panted Bilbo. He turned to leave, but Thorin planted the flat edge of his sword on his shoulder. Bilbo stared up at him for a moment, as if unable to believe Thorin would do this to him, and then his head turned and Karra followed his gaze. And what she saw nearly gave her a heart attack.

A dragon. A huge, frighteningly angry dragon.

Karra's mind slowed to a standstill and she clutched her sword still harder. Her breath came in short little gasps and she wanted nothing more than to turn and run, run away out of the passage, away from this terrible, terrifying beast that was now approaching them. But she couldn't, and stood petrified, unable to move as it came closer, closer.

And then the dragon let out a roar and Karra jumped and nearly dropped her sword. A stream of fire shot from its mouth towards the dwarves. Karra threw herself backwards and found herself falling as the searing heat passed over her and around her. She gasped for air and landed with a hard plop on a pile of gold coins. She rolled backwards, unable to stop herself. She finally hit solid floor, breathing hard.

"Run!" yelled Thorin, and they ran. Karra jumped to her feet and tried not to trip over the piles of gold coins as they fled. She ran into a wall and nearly fell over, and realized they must have entered another tunnel. Someone grabbed her by the hand and pulled her forward. She wasn't sure how long they ran, only that she absolutely couldn't run any further. She turned a corner and found herself in _another _tunnel—gosh, she really needed a map of this place. She turned to ask the nearest dwarf where they were…only, there weren't any other dwarves.

She was alone.

What had happened, she asked herself as she leaned against the wall, breathing hard. How had she gotten separated from the dwarves? And where was she? Unable to think, unable to move, she slid to the ground, breathing hard, trying to calm herself. She had faced trolls. She had faced goblins. She had faced _spiders_. Surely she could face a dragon without panicking like that. As her frenzied heartbeat began to slow and her breathing returned to normal, she got to her feet and looked around, still clenching the hilt of her sword. The hall was empty. She was still alone.

She tiptoed forward, trying not to panic every time her footsteps echoed off the walls. _I'm fine,_ she told herself. _It's fine. Everything's fine. _She jumped as she unexpectedly turned a corner and emerged into a large, open room. After a examining every corner of the room as carefully as she could, she stepped out of the hallway. The room was empty. No dwarves—but no dragon, either, so that was a plus.

A little shiver went up the back of her neck. She stopped.

What was that?

It didn't sound like a dwarf.

Her heart beating wildly again, she dropped to the ground and ducked behind a pile of gold. There it was again—that noise. Slowly, she raised her head and peeked around the edge of the pile. And what she saw nearly made her stop breathing.

The dragon stalked forward into the room, wrath and fire in its eyes. Karra jerked her head back just as Smaug's eye swept over her. The dragon's voice echoed around the room. "Do not try to hide!" it hissed.

Karra jumped. Smaug could talk? Why had no one told her this? _Why had no one told her that dragons could talk? _Now she would probably have to have a conversation with it! Oh no. No, no, no. She couldn't. She just couldn't.

She felt panic rising in her chest as the dragon's eye swept the room once again…moved away…and moved back. She looked up. And Smaug's eye met hers.

There was no hiding. The dragon had seen her, and the only thing she could do was run. Except…there was nowhere to run. She slowly got to her feet, her heart pounding. What could she do now?

"So there you are," it growled, darting its giant head forward to within nearly ten feet of Karra. She jumped and nearly fell over backwards. _Goblins, trolls, spiders…_she thought. _I faced goblins, trolls, and spiders. I'm fine. _Slowly, she began to work her way around the back wall of the room, trying to steady her breathing and calm her rising panic. She was fine. Everything was fine.

No. It really wasn't. She had a dragon looking at her. Everything was _not _fine.

"You do not smell like a dwarf, nor do you smell like a man," the dragon said, its head following her and its eye trained on her. "Do tell me, what are you?"

"I…I'm a dwarf!" Karra cried. "I…I guess I…I just smell funny!" Putting her hands on her hips, she tried her best to stare up at the dragon defiantly. She felt her resolve crumbling as it stared back, examining her as if it were confused. Its eyes narrowed and its head drew back.

"So the dwarves have brought a woman with them," it hissed. "I see, I see. They planned to use you as bait, perhaps? The princess for the dragon, hmm?" As it spoke, it circled the room, always keeping its eyes trained on Karra. It let out a long laugh, slowly growing until it echoed deafeningly around the chamber. "So what are you meant to distract me from, princess?" it asked, the echoes of the laugh still bouncing off the walls. It darted its head forward and Karra was suddenly angry.

"Yes, I'm a woman!" she shouted at the dragon's face, feeling a sudden surge of courage—or maybe it was recklessness. But whatever it was, she couldn't stop now. "Why is that so strange? I'm one of the company, they accepted me from the beginning! I don't care what you say, they would _never _use me as bait! I'm a dwarf, and I can handle dragons just as well as any of them!" She ducked just in time. A stream of fire shot from the dragon's mouth and Karra ducked, rolled over, jumped to her feet, and ran. The dragon followed her, fire still streaming from its jaws. She gasped in the choking heat and dropped to the ground, hiding once again behind a pile of gold. She crawled for a bit, jumped to her feet, and ran again. The dragon opened its jaws again and Karra ducked into the tunnel, leaving the room just as another blast of flame followed her. She ran down the corridor with her back to the flames, eventually just falling to her knees in exhaustion. Now she had gone and made Smaug mad! What had she done that for? What had gotten into her?

She just sat there for a moment, breathing hard, trying to collect her wits. She heard a noise into the hallway and jumped. Turning, she recognized the silhouette of the hobbit coming around the corner. "Bilbo!" she cried, getting to her feet. "Oh, thank goodness! I thought I was completely lost."

"Karra!" he exclaimed, breaking into a run. "_We _thought we lost _you_!"

"What's going on?" she asked as Bilbo reached her and stopped, panting. "I mean, where is everybody?"

"I don't know," Bilbo replied in a low voice. "We've split up. Thorin has some sort of plan. We're to meet at the forges."

"And where are the forges?"

"I don't know."

Karra closed her eyes momentarily and her shoulders slumped.

"But come on!" Bilbo cried, grabbing her hand. They ran together down the hallway, sending occasional cautious glances behind them. Rounding a corner, they nearly ran right into two dwarves. Both groups stopped and stared at each other for a moment. There was a crash behind them.

"Watch out!" cried Ori. "The dragon…it's coming closer!"

"Go on," Karra said in a low voice, that reckless courage of a moment earlier returning. "We'll distract him." Bilbo raised a hand and opened his mouth to say something, but Karra cut him off and pulled him forward as the dwarves ran the other direction. Bilbo and Karra ran out of the hallway and into another large room just as the dragon landed on a pile of gold in front of them.

"So," it growled, "the thief and the princess."

Karra bit her lip. "Stop calling me princess," she said under her breath. "Like I'm some kind of helpless maiden."

And orange glow rose in the dragon's chest. _Oh no. It heard me. _"So you come to distract me," Smaug hissed. "What did I tell you, princess? You are bait!" The dragon opened its giant jaws and the orange glow grew brighter.

"Wait!" Bilbo shouted.

The dragon bit back the stream of fire that was about to come from its jaws.

"You know," Bilbo said, "I…I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might make someone very angry if you burned us to ashes."

Karra thought wildly for something to say. "Yeah," she blurted out. "We have people behind us that you wouldn't want to make angry. We have allies, dragon." She stopped, momentarily satisfied with how good that had sounded. "Allies that can kill dragons like you." She put her hands on her hips and tried to look Smaug in the eye. Maybe she hadn't convinced him, but at least the dwarves had gotten away. She noticed Bilbo staring at her. She couldn't tell whether he was admiring her for her cleverness or wondering what the heck she had just said, but whichever it was, she never found out. Smaug's face contorted in rage.

"So," he said with a low growl. "I was right. You come from Laketown!" It was Karra's turn to look at Bilbo. Then the full implications of what the dragon had just said hit her rather suddenly and she let out a little gasp.

"Oh, no, no, no!" she cried. "It's not Laketown! Oh no, I really doubt _they_ could kill you." She glanced at Bilbo as if pleading for him to cut in and say something clever.

Bilbo held up his hand and started to speak, then stopped. "Uh…" he began. "Our….our allies are much more powerful than that little town. You…you would be right to fear them." He stepped back as if expecting an outflow of the dragon's wrath. The orange glow rose in its chest again.

Bilbo grabbed Karra's hand and pulled her backwards just in time. Fire flew from the dragon's mouth as they rolled down a pile of gold. Heat surrounded Karra. She felt a searing pain in her right arm and let out a little scream. The dragon stalked forward and both Karra and Bilbo jumped to their feet and ran. Karra's arm throbbed and she bent over, breathing hard. Bilbo pulled her around a corner and they stopped, leaning against a wall. Karra closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "My arm…" she managed to say.

Bilbo let go of her hand, a look of concern on his face. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I…don't…know…" Karra gasped. "I think….he….Smaug…burned my arm…pretty bad…" Opening her eyes again, she stared at her arm. Half her sleeve hung in burned tatters and the burn on her arm was beginning to blister already. Karra bit her lip and looked away.

There was a crash behind them.

"Come on!" cried Bilbo, grabbing her by her left arm and pulling her forward. She followed him through a huge stone doorway and into another room, willing herself not to trip or something. They stopped short as Smaug landed just opposite them.

"So!" he shouted, his voice filled with wrath. "You try to deceive me! You tell me you have allies! You tell me you did not come from Laketown! Liars! All of you!" He stalked forward, and Bilbo and Karra ducked behind a pillar. "There is some plan," muttered the dragon. "Some scheme being cooked up between you and your miserable little Laketowners." Its eyes narrowed as if it were thinking. "Perhaps," it hissed, "perhaps it's time I pay them a visit." It began to stalk towards the door of the chamber, its eyes glowing fire.

Karra eyes widened and she jumped forward, not even thinking of what the dragon would do to her. "No!" she cried. She felt a presence beside her and turned to see Bilbo.

"No! Wait!" yelled the hobbit. "This isn't their fault! You cannot go to Laketown!"

Smaug stopped, turned back, and a look of cunning came over his face. "You care about them?" he said, a slight smile forming around the corners of his mouth. "Good! Then you can watch them die!" And with that, he turned back towards the door.

A voice resounded over the chamber and Smaug turned once again. Thorin stood on a platform above the room. "You witless worm!" he shouted, and his voice held a triumphant edge. The dragon narrowed his eyes and growled deep in his throat. The entire company of dwarves emerged standing behind Thorin on the platform. "I am taking back what you stole!" Thorin cried. Bilbo pulled Karra behind a pillar and they huddled together watching the confrontation.

"You will take nothing from me, dwarf scum," Smaug growled, stalking towards Thorin. "I laid low your warriors of old." His voice rose. "I instilled terror in the hearts of men. I am king under the mountain!" he bellowed.

"This is not your kingdom," Thorin said, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the hall. "These are dwarf lands, and this is dwarf gold. We will have our revenge!" He shouted and order and there was a giant crack. Smaug arched his neck in surprise.

To the left of Thorin, pieces of stone began to fall. Karra watched in surprise and confusion as the stones broke, cracked, fell away, and smashed to the floor, revealing in their place a giant golden statue.

Okay, now this officially made no sense anymore. Karra blinked and looked back at the dwarves. "What in the world?" she muttered under her breath. She tapped Bilbo gently. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" she whispered. Bilbo shook his head, staring up at the statue, clearly just as confused as Karra was.

Smaug evidently thought the same, for he stopped in his tracks and stared. Turning his head this way and that, he examined it thoroughly. A strange, greedy light came into his eyes and he seemed to nod, as if saying, _I approve. _Karra looked back and forth between the statue, the dragon, and the dwarves, totally and completely confused. So _this _was their plan? This made no sense. Like, no sense at all.

For a moment everything was silent. In his greedy fascination with the golden statue, the dragon seemed to have forgotten that anything else existed. Karra began to think that now would be a good time for them all to sneak away and leave Smaug to his raptures. But no, they all just stood there, watching. And so Karra watched too, her confusion growing by the minute.

And then the statue began to collapse. A stream of molten gold splurted out of its eye, and Karra jumped. The statue seemed to melt, its entire head collapsing into a golden pool. Karra stared, still confused but strangely mesmerized. The dragon stepped backward, arching his neck in surprise once again. The statue collapsed and melted, engulfing the dragon in a pool of molten gold. Letting out a scream of agony that echoed off the walls and the high ceiling, he tried to flee, thrashing lashing his tail as the gold surrounded him. Karra jumped as a drop of molten gold flew towards her and landed at her feet. She stared at it, strangely fascinated.

There was silence. Karra looked up. The dragon was nowhere to be seen, and in the middle of the room was a huge, flat, pool of gold. Suddenly Karra understood. They had just drowned the dragon in liquid gold. That had been the plan all along.

Hesitantly, she stepped forward, staring in disbelief. Could this really have worked? Nothing moved, and it seemed…

The gold barely had time to settle. The surface broke, and Smaug burst forth, bellowing in rage. _Oh great. _It hadn't worked, and they had only made the dragon angrier. Karra jumped back behind her pillar.

"Revenge?" screamed Smaug. "I will show you revenge!" He hurtled towards the door, throwing off drops of molten gold in all directions. Karra had to jump out of the way to keep from getting hit by one.

The dragon crashed through the wall, smashing stones and pillars as he went. Not even sure what she was doing anymore, Karra drew her sword and ran forward. Bilbo was at her side, his own short sword drawn. The dwarves rushed forward, weapons in hand. They charged through the opening the dragon had made and followed the sounds of his flight. There was an even larger crash ahead of them and then there was silence. They ran forward and found themselves looking out of the wall and into the night. In the distance, Karra saw the silhouette of the dragon, winging its way towards Laketown.

There was a moment of silence. They had failed, and they had made the dragon very angry. The terrible finality of it seemed to settle over all of them as they stared gloomily out into the darkness. Karra slumped against what was left of the gate and slid to the ground, putting her head in her hands. The people of Laketown were going to die in fire and flames—and it was all their fault. And….the thought hit her so hard she let out a little gasp that slowly turned into a sob.

"Fili," she said softly. "Fili's in Laketown."

* * *

_Well, I'm sorry to say this, but this is where I'm going to have to leave you for a while. As you know, this is the end of the Desolation of Smaug. I've seen the Battle of Five Armies twice now, but I still need time to get all my thoughts together about the next section of this story (and get a transcript of BOFA), and then I have to actually plan everything out, and then I have to write it, and rewrite it, and get it to a point where I'm satisfied with it. And all that might take a couple of months or more. If it's any comfort, I'll leave you with the promise that I will never abandon this story completely (unless something bad happens, but you know… :P). I might take long breaks on it, but I __will__ finish this thing—even if it takes me a while. So even if you don't get another chapter for a couple of months, I have not abandoned this story. I'm just getting everything written up really good for you all. :)_


	30. Chapter 30-The Ashes of Laketown

_**Author's Note: **__I return! Only for three chapters, but I'm back, finally!_

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**Chapter 30-The Ashes of Laketown**

The night was clear and cool, but a strange sense of foreboding hung over the lake. As he sat by his brother's side, Fili felt it settle over him like a mist. Why was he so worried? Kili was alive, and nothing had happened—nothing more than a slight tremor, and that had been hours ago. His kin were capable. They would not let themselves be killed.

Tauriel entered, her face serious. There was a sound like that of wind rushing over the roof, and Fili felt a sudden pang of fear.

"The dragon," she said.

"The dragon?"

"He is here."

"Smaug is here?" Fili couldn't keep the fear from his voice. "He's attacking us?" His kin, what had happened to them? They had failed to kill the beast. Had the beast killed them? All of them? Or were some still alive in the mountain?

Karra.

What had happened to her?

000000

The company sat huddled together on a small platform overlooking Laketown, watching in agonizing silence as the dragon approached its prey. Karra sat with her back to the wall, not wanting to look, not wanting to see the destruction before her. They had angered the dragon, and they had sent him to Laketown. Fili, Kili, Bofur, Oin, all of the people of Laketown, they would all die because of them.

Karra felt herself shaking. When the dragon was finished with Laketown, would he come back for them? Would he kill them all too? She would rather die now than sit here, with this awful agony of anticipation hanging over her.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, lass," Balin said, but his voice shook. Karra looked at him and bit her lip. She wanted to stand up now and not be such a wimp, to look out over Laketown with the others. But instead she just slumped back against the wall, her heart pounding in her ears.

The minutes passed like hours and Karra felt as if she were counting each second as it ticked by. She tried to stand once. Her knees shook so much she found herself sitting again. With every passing second, the horrible images her mind conjured up became more real, more vivid, and she thought more and more of Fili. She just wanted to close her eyes and be out of this misery. More than anything, she just wanted Fili back.

She never knew how long they sat there in silence, a tense silence laced with sadness and fear, watching, or not daring to watch, as the dragon rained fire on Laketown. It could have been hours, it could have been minutes. A tremor ran through the stone on which Karra sat, and she jumped, snapped out of her thoughts.

"What was that?" she blurted out.

"The dragon," Bilbo said, dazed. Karra got slowly to her feet and finally managed to make herself peer over the wall.

She saw nothing, nothing but the outline of a ruined Laketown in the distance.

"It's dead!" Bilbo cried. "Smaug is dead!"

There was a moment of shocked silence as the dwarves looked at each other, and then back at the silhouette of Laketown.

The dragon was dead.

Karra felt her heartbeat slow to a somewhat normal pace, and she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Smaug was dead. They didn't have to worry any more. A bird flew past them, and she watched it wing its way towards the mountain. Slowly, the dwarves began to laugh, and to rejoice at the death of their enemy, but Karra couldn't find more than a little smile in her. She was glad, of course she was. But the exhaustion of the night before and the persistent worry of today weighed on her mind, and she knew she would never have peace until she knew that the missing members of their company were safe.

Gradually, the company began to make its way back into Erebor. For a time they just milled about, laughing, remembering, examining the kingdom that was now theirs, and theirs alone. But as the sun rose and sheds its rays through the broken front gate, they began to think of food, and beds. Karra would much rather have set up her bedroll right there and slept, but the others wanted to go deeper into the mountain, so she followed them as they turned away from the front gate and into a tunnel.

It began to grow dark as they made their way further into Erebor. Though some light still filtered in, Thorin drew a torch from his pack, and striking a match on the wall, lit it, leading them ahead.

Karra couldn't help admiring how epic he looked holding a flaming torch.

They couldn't have gone far, but to a tired and hungry Karra, it seemed hours. Soon she began to lag behind, and she was relieved to see that she wasn't the only one. She found herself walking beside Bilbo. They walked in silence for a bit.

"Don't you think," he finally said, "that should get that…uhh, taken care of?" He pointed to her arm as he spoke, and for the first time all night, she remembered the pain of the burn. She winced and leaned against the wall for a moment. "Sorry," Bilbo murmured.

"No, it's fine," she said. "I needed to pay some attention to it anyway."

Ahead of them, they saw the last of the dwarves disappear into the darkness of the tunnel. They looked at each other, and began to run. Rounding a corner, they stood at the back of the company, which had stopped at the entrance of a large room filled mostly with shadow.

"The throne room," Thorin said, and his voice echoed slightly around the huge chamber. He swept the torch in front of him and touched it to the wall. A flame sprung up, and from it, another light was lit, and another, and another, until a ring of torches burned around the room. Karra looked around her in awe. Though dust covered everything, and some signs of the dragon's destruction remained even here, this huge chamber seemed to hold echoes of Erebor's former glory, and Karra understood why the dwarves loved their home with such fierce love. Had her father ever walked here?

"This," said Thorin, stepping forward to the great throne, "is the throne my grandfather sat upon as King Under the Mountain." He paused, and turned to the others, moving his torch in a large, sweeping motion. "A throne I intend to claim." His voice held a ring of triumph. He looked so grand, standing there by the old, broken throne, that Karra felt as if she should bow. And yet, as he said the words, there was a strange light in his eyes, and Karra felt as if she should back away, and flee.

They stayed only a little while in the throne room, talking in hushed voices, remembering and reminiscing. Some remembered this throne when Thror had sat upon it, and Karra lingered in the background of their conversations, listening to their fond memories. Soon Thorin led them from the room, saying they should find the houses of the dwarves, and set up residence.

Even in her state of near-exhaustion, the trip didn't seem nearly as long. Soon they found themselves entering the houses of the dwarves. Or rather, the _mansions_ of the dwarves. They stretched upwards and downwards with no end to them as far as Karra could see. Dust covered everything, and the eerie silence of hundreds of years hung over them. But the laughter of the dwarves soon began to break that silence as they explored, and rummaged through old treasures.

"There now, lassie," Balin said as he finished wrapping her burned arm in a bandage and some salve he had pulled from his pack. "That should do for now." Karra gave a weak smile in thanks, and ran her fingers through the burned tatters of what was once her sleeve, wishing she had another dress.

"If only we had Oin with us, he'd fix you up nicely," Balin said. "But this'll have to do." Karra looked away, standing and turning from the room.

"I think I'll go see what everybody's doing," she said. At the mention of Oin, the anxious worries began to fill her mind again, and the other dwarves seemed to have a sufficient distraction, rummaging as they were through a chest filled with every conceivable thing.

"Here, Karra." Gloin spoke up as Karra entered. "This should fit you." He held up a dress, and Karra stopped, staring at it for a moment. It was a dark brown, with gold accents embroidered on the sleeves and around the waist. The skirt flowed outwards in a whirl of skillfully made rich brown cloth, with the same gold accents swirling around the bottom.

Karra loved it.

"Thank you!" she cried, and glanced around the room, strewn with everything she could imagine, from clothes to old cooking utensils. "You're really finding lots of treasure here, aren't you?" With a grin, she took the dress from the dwarf and ran off, soon finding an empty room to change in.

She dress fit perfectly, and was quite comfortable. It was obviously made by and for dwarves; the workmanship was flawless and it fit her perfectly. She had such a time finding clothes that fit her at home…on earth. Home? This was home, this wonderful huge kingdom full of treasure and halls upon halls to explore and clothes that fit her perfectly.

She emerged into the room full of dwarves once more, her old, burned dress hanging over her arm. Her old dwarf boots stood out now, tattered and muddy, and her short hair stuck out in all directions. Well, there was really nothing she could do about _that. _But something in the corner caught her eye, and she ran forward, making her way through the dwarves, who were scattered here and there across the room. A pair of shoes sat by yet another old chest, and she picked them up, turning them over, examining them. Finally, she slipped her old dwarf boots off, and, one by one, slipped the new shoes on.

They fit, and they fit wonderfully at that. She twirled around, giggling. She would never have believed a pair of shoes and a dress could have made her this happy. "I feel like such a girly girl," she laughed.

"What's that, lassie?" Gloin said, looking her way.

"Nothing," she mumbled, a slight flush rising in her cheeks.

Before the afternoon was out, they had begun already to set up their living quarters in one room or another. Karra found a bedroom a ways away from the others and promptly claimed it was her own. It had once been richly furnished, but most of furnishings were gone now, destroyed or rotted away, save only for a dresser and a bed in one corner, which, thankfully, still had a mattress.

And it was a mess.

Dust covered everything, and some of the rotting and tattered remains of the old furnishings still cluttered up the room. Karra threw herself into the work of cleaning it, determined not to rest until she had dusted everything from top to bottom and organized her things.

Anything to keep her mind away from things she would rather not think of.

After what could have been hours, she plopped down onto her bed, looking around. There were still some cobwebs in the corners, and dust still covered the ceiling, but she was satisfied. She leaned her head against the wall, and a wave of exhaustion swept over her. She hadn't slept for…well, she didn't know how long. She had spent the entire night running from a dragon—a dragon that was now dead. How could so much happen in twenty four hours?

The worry still hung over her mind like a cloud. The people of Laketown—Fili. She forced the thoughts to the back of her mind and lay down, pulling her covers over her.

She didn't know how long she slept. It must have been hours, for when she woke, it was eerily silent. She slipped her feet from the bed and stood, peering this way and that. There was no sun or moon in these halls, but it felt like night. She stepped out into the hallway. The torches still burned, but she saw no one.

She tiptoed down the hallway, her steps echoing off the stone walls. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that, at any moment, some creature of the dark caves could jump out and attack her. Around a corner, she saw a large room, filled with piles of gold and treasure.

He stood at the far corner of the room. He wore the royal robes of a dwarven king, and a crown sat on his head. She just stared at this stranger for a moment without recognition.

It was Thorin.

Of course, it was Thorin. Why hadn't she recognized him? He looked up, and she saw his face. His eyes still held that strange glint, and she felt a sudden and inexplicable fear as they swept across the room. What if he saw her? Would he be angry? Why should he be angry? This was her home too.

She fled.

She fled through halls and chambers with no sense of direction. She fled for what seemed both hours and minutes, and finally, she turned a corner, and she found herself standing before the broken gates of Erebor, looking out into the night, for it was night. The stars shone over the lake in the distance, over the ruins of Laketown. Karra searched them for any sign of life, though she knew she would never find any from this distance.

Those ruins in the distance could hold the ashes of her friends.

She swallowed. Why had she been dumb enough to come out here and stare at Laketown? She had worked all afternoon in a feverish frenzy to keep the thoughts and worries away. And now here she was, staring at the desolation of Smaug. She could have stayed with Fili.

He could be dead. _She could have died with him. _All those months together, all the hardships and the dangers. She couldn't let the horrible finality of it settled in her mind. She couldn't give in to her grief, she couldn't let it consume her, standing here, staring at Laketown. She could never go back, back to earth. It was no longer her home. But she couldn't stay here, forced to live out her life regretting what could have been—with Fili. As she stood there, unable to think, feel, unable to cry, something drifted towards her and landed on the palm of her hand.

A piece of ash.

She just stared at it for a moment, numbly.

_Ash. _

She clenched her hand around it, and suddenly, without warning, the tears came. Swallowing back sobs, she threw the piece of ash as far as she could, but it hovered in the air, and came to land at her feet. She kicked at it, and ran, back into Erebor, back through the broken entrance, into the tunnels, away from Laketown and that horrible piece of ash.

She stumbled through tunnels upon tunnels, going nowhere. Finally, she stopped, and fell against a wall, sliding to the ground. She heard a footstep and looked up to see Balin.

"You…you're up too," she choked out.

Balin smiled. "What's wrong, lass?"

"Fili," she sobbed. Balin sat beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. "Laketown," she said. She buried her head in the older dwarf's shoulder, and the sobs came, uncontrolled.

"It's alright, lassie. You can cry." Balin hugged her closer. He didn't try to comfort her with meaningless words, didn't try to reassure her that they were alive, he just sat there, his arm around her shoulders, his silent presence comforting her more than any talk. She let herself cry into his shoulder, the hovering anxiousness of the last day and night finding solace in tears. Slowly, her sobs lessened, and soon she sat silently, her eyes still stinging from tears.

"Do you think they're alive?" she finally managed to say.

Balin smiled, a sad smile, and yet oddly a comforting one. "I can't say," he said. "They're capable. I know they are. But Karra…" He smoothed a piece of disheveled hair from her face. "If they…if they don't return, know this. You have a home with us, always. Always remember that you have a home here, for as long as you live." He squeezed her shoulders and she leaned her head on his.

"Thanks," she murmured.

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_Nothing to say here. I'm just glad I'm back. Review?_


	31. Chapter 31-So Much Gold

_**Author's Note: **Woohoo! Just realized I have exactly 100 reviews! _

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**Chapter 31-So Much Gold**

The first thing Karra saw was grey stone above her.

She yawned, sat up, and ran her fingers through her hair. Why was she laying here, in her bed? The last thing she remembered was sitting in the hallway, her head resting on Balin's shoulder. Sliding her feet over the edge of the old, worn-out mattress, she smoothed her skirt and slipped on her shoes.

She was living in Erebor now.

She was living in a great dwarven kingdom a realm away from what had once been her home.

It was a strange yet exhilarating thought.

When she found the others, they were gathered around a large table, just starting their breakfast. Why was she always the last one to wake up? This was getting a bit embarrassing.

She slid in at the side of the table, relieved that no one seemed to notice her arrival. They ate their breakfast in somber silence, an air of worry pervading the mood and forbidding any small talk. Karra glanced around the table, and then glanced around the table again. Something was not right. Still, no one spoke.

"Where's Thorin?" she blurted out, and a hush even deeper than before spread over the table. She looked around at the somber faces of the dwarves, wishing she could disappear. Did they know something she didn't? What had she done?

They finished their breakfast quickly and began to filter out of the room, leaving Karra and Bilbo still sitting alone at the table. For a moment, she just sat there, saying nothing, staring at her lap. Finally she spoke.

"What's up with Thorin?" she said. "He should have been here."

"I know," Bilbo replied. "I haven't seen him since…for a while now."

Karra sighed. "I guess he's just worried. But…" She remembered that sudden flash in his eye, and his silhouette among the piles of gold. "I can't help feeling like it's something…more. I saw him…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked at her lap.

"…standing among the piles of gold," Bilbo finished her sentence. "Wearing a crown and royal robes. He looked…_dangerous._"

"So you were up last night too."

"You're not the only one who's worried, Karra. About…them." He seemed unable to say more, but Karra knew. She swallowed, and looked away. Patting Bilbo on the shoulder awkwardly, she stood, and walked from the room, sending a little smile back at him. As soon as she was out of the room, she fled, not knowing where she was going, with no purpose other than to escape the thoughts and worries that seemed to be attacking her.

Why was she so rude? She had just turned, and without a word, walked away from the only one who really_ understood. _Understood what it was like to be dragged away from home on a horrible, dangerous adventure, and have everything go wrong, and…and…

_Fili._

She rounded a corner and emerged into a great open area, full of rooms and doors. Looking down, she swayed slightly.

This place really needed some railings.

She turned, dizzy, and leaned against the wall for a moment. Maybe she should just go back to bed and stay there until she knew. Until she knew something about Fili. She would prefer even news of his death over this terrible uncertainty.

She walked almost mechanically down the hallway and back to the other dwarves' rooms, not caring where she was going or what she was doing. Seeing movement, she entered a room and found herself sorting treasure—and sorting treasure for hours, at that. It must have been afternoon when she finally got away. The work was interesting, certainly. But she needed time alone, away from eight other dwarves who, at this time, seemed anything but worried. She needed to be alone with her thoughts.

Or did she?

Whatever.

There were great halls here, just waiting to be explored. She wandered down corridor after corridor, examining the dwarves' workmanship with a sense of awe. Someday all of this would be her home, and she could explore as much as she liked, and just marvel at it.

With or without Fili.

_Stop it. _

She began to run, enjoying the sound of her own footsteps echoing off the walls. She emerged into a large room—was it the room where Thorin had stood last night? She hadn't seen him once today.

The room was filled with piles upon piles of gold, and she walked forward in a sort of dazzled daze. The brightness and immensity of it almost hurt her eyes. She heard the crunch of coins beneath her feet, and found that she was almost wading into the piles.

So much gold.

It was amazing.

Maybe a little overwhelming.

Leaning down, she scooped up a pile of coins and let them run through her fingers, finding a strange satisfaction in the sound as they hit the floor and bounced off of other coins. She grinned. This was actually way too much fun. She scooped up another handful and tossed them in the air, watching as they sparkled and shimmered and tossed up other coins as they landed at her feet. And to think, all of this was theirs, all theirs. She leaned down to scoop up another handful.

She stopped, her hand buried in the gold. What was she thinking? She glanced around, hoping no one had seen her little display of silliness. All these piles of treasure, she was scared of them. She pulled her hand from the coins and kicked at the pile, watching as they scattered. Tearing her eyes away from the huge piles, she turned and fled, away from the gold.

She wandered Erebor for what must have been at least an hour, completely lost in its grandeur. She got a crick in her neck looking up at the high, curving ceilings, but she didn't care. There was just so much of this kingdom—much more than she could ever explore, even in a lifetime, it seemed. It was so huge, so overwhelming, so _awesome. _Her dad had _lived _here.

She wished she could have known him.

Seeing a doorway ahead of her, she began to run. She emerged through the opening into a large room, so huge she couldn't even see the ceilings, the pillars disappearing into shadow. One wall lay broken in pieces, large blocks of stone scattered here and there, remnants of the dragon's attack.

She looked at her feet.

A floor of pure gold stretched out before them.

So this was where Thorin had challenged Smaug, just days ago! Taking a deep breath, she poked at the gold with her foot, half expecting it to be molten still. But her foot hit a hard surface, and, still hesitating, she put her weight on it and stepped up onto the floor. A smile spreading across her face, she took a step, and another step. She was walking on gold!

Smooth, slippery gold.

Just a little, but Karra was clumsy enough to slip on it. Her foot slid forward, and she nearly fell over, letting out a little shriek. She began to giggle, and pushed herself forward, sliding across the golden floor.

"I'm ice skating!" she cried, and her voice echoed around the chamber.

She slid across the floor, spun, and slid the other way, giggling. How childish she was being—but whatever, she was enjoying herself. And there was no one here to see her, right? At least she hoped.

She tried to stop herself, but her feet wouldn't stop, and she slid out of control across the golden floor. She waved her arms wildly, her feet skidded out from under her, and she was sitting on her bottom, her legs dangling off the edge of the floor. How her friends would laugh, Kat especially. The thought of her exuberant friend here, in Erebor, made her laugh even harder. Kat would be hard pressed to find her tall, dark and handsome date for Karra here, among this group.

Short, light haired, and handsome? That, she would find.

Karra's giggles slowed, and stopped. Here she was, exploring Erebor, the kingdom that was to be theirs, _all _of theirs. All fourteen of them. Fili, Kili, Bofur, Oin. Would they ever see the kingdom? They could be dead. _Dead. _All laughter drained from her now, she sat, her head resting in her hands, staring at the destroyed wall, the blocks of stone thrown up by Smaug's wrath.

All this gold and a huge kingdom was nothing, nothing compared to what she had left behind in Laketown.

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_If you review I'll give you an acorn. ;)_


	32. Chapter 32-Travelers Return

_**Author's Note: **__Darn it, Dwalin. _

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**Chapter 32-Travelers Return**

Karra sat on the edge of a large chest, her feet dangling just above the ground. They had been at it all day—sorting, exclaiming over old treasures, organizing, cleaning. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. Perhaps, like her, they were looking for a distraction. But they seemed to have taken up all of the chests in the room, save for the one she sat on, which was empty. They left her with nothing to do but sit, and watch them—and think.

She dropped to the floor. This was getting boring, and the room was crowded enough. She peeked out into the corridor, closed her eyes, shook her head, and looked again.

No.

She didn't just see that.

Running now, she rounded a corner, ran into something, and looked up to see a pair of brown eyes and a shock of blond hair.

Her shriek echoed down the hallway.

Fili slipped his arms around her waist and swung her around in a circle, lifting her feet from the ground. She couldn't stop laughing, smiling, saying his name as many times as she could. He drew her close, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh, Karra," he said. "I've been so worried. You're alive!"

"_You're _alive! I thought you were…" Her voice trailed off. "I Smaug burn Laketown, and I was sure…" She hugged him again, laughing. "I'm so glad you're back!"

Dwarves emerged into the hallway, running, laughing, calling the others' names. In a whirl of chaotic greetings, they attacked the returning four with hugs and questions and laughter. Fili stood by Karra, his arm still around her waist, never taking his eyes off her for more than a moment.

"Karra," he said again. "I was so worried. I thought you were dead." He cupped her face in his hand and his eyes met hers. "Karra, I…"

"Och, Fili! It's good to see you back, lad!" Dwalin gave Fili a hearty pat on the back and pulled him into a hug, knocking Karra out of the way. She stepped back with a sigh. What had Fili been about to say? She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned.

"I'll have you know," Kili said, "that my brother has done nothing but worry about these last four days."

"Kili!" she cried. "I'm so sorry, I barely noticed you!" She gave him a brief hug and grinned at his teasing. "Why didn't you come back sooner?"

Kili didn't answer.

"He couldn't travel," Fili said, appearing behind his brother. "He was wounded—badly." He patted Kili on the shoulder and grinned. "But that's a story for another time, and it _is _a story."

"Oh come on, it's not like we have anything better to do! Tell me everything."

Fili grinned. "Oh, fine. But come, sit down." He took her hand and they followed the others back into the little room, which was now overflowing with dwarves. Karra found a place in the corner and sat down, Fili on one side and Kili on the other.

"I don't think you ever knew how badly he was wounded," Fili said. "Why, he nearly died!"

"Oh come on!" Kili raised an eyebrow. "I did not. And I'd rather not—"

"Karra asked," Fili said with a grin. "And I'm going to tell her." Kili looked away, and Karra thought she saw a flush rising in his cheeks.

And as they sat there in the corner, away from the chaos and exuberance of the dwarves' greetings, Karra heard the whole story—or at least most of it. What details were lost in the back-and-forth banter of the brothers, she would pry out of Fili later, or he would tell her, when they were alone, and away from Kili's frequent interruptions. Tauriel was in Laketown? And Kili…? No wonder he didn't want to tell her the whole story. She felt laughter bubbling up at the thought. She could have guessed as much. Soon they were all three laughing, though it seemed Kili's laughter was more reserved than usual. Karra leaned her head on Fili's shoulder, happy beyond anything she ever could have dreamed. Smaug was dead, and everyone was safe.

Everything was going to be fine now.

It was later that day when Thorin finally appeared before them. Standing on a balcony high above them, he swept his eyes over the company. There was no acknowledgment of his nephews, and no joy in his face. Dressed in the royal robes and crown of a king, he spoke to them as if he was high above them, and they were his lowly servants. He spoke to them of treasure, of their newly reclaimed kingdom, and of one other thing. The Arkenstone, he called. Karra didn't know what that Arkenstone was, but it sounded important. He gave orders to search, to sort through the gold and treasure until it was found. And then he was gone.

And so they did—for hours that day, they searched, and sorted, and organized, and hauled piles upon piles of gold and jewels. The work wasn't _that _boring; these halls held hundreds of beautiful jewels, and more often than not, she worked beside Fili. Or rather, he worked beside her, never letting her strain herself, always helping with the heavy loads, and never missing an opportunity to do something for her. Every time their hands touched or their eyes met, she felt oddly shy, and sometimes he would look over at her, and she could see the worry of these last days echoing in his eyes.

But the day wore on, with no Thorin and no break. The gold was a bit like a sandbox; it got in her shoes and up her dress, and sometimes, even, in her hair. Fili was called away on other tasks, and Karra found herself with no one to work beside. The color of gold began to hurt her eyes.

She ran her fingers through her hair and a coin fell out. "Does he really think we're going to find it in all this?" The words came out louder than she had intended, and she looked around at the others. "I mean, really!" She swept her arm around the room in an all encompassing gesture and rolled her eyes. "You know what, I'm taking a break. This is getting really old." She turned, and walked from the room, realizing just moments later how crabby she had sounded. She looked back. Everyone was still dutifully searching, and not a face turned towards her. She wasn't sure if she was glad or sorry.

Hearing the sound of a footstep behind her, she turned. It was Bilbo.

"You bored too?"

"Well…" he began, and stopped for a moment. "Not bored, not exactly. But Karra…" He caught up to her, putting a hand on her arm. "I wouldn't say things like that if I were you."

"What do you mean?"

"What you just said. About not being able to find it. You might anger him."

"Him?"

"Thorin."

"Oh." Karra just stood there for a moment. It hadn't just been her imagination, then? If Bilbo was afraid of Thorin, something must be really wrong. "W…what's going on, Bilbo?" she asked, and her voice shook. "I mean, the first thing he does when his nephews come back is order them to find a jewel. What's going on?"

"I don't know." Bilbo lowered his voice, as if he were telling her a secret. "I think it might have something to do with the gold, but I'm not sure. I don't know what to do."

"Just wait, I guess? Maybe he'll snap out of it." Bilbo drew back, and Karra bit her lip. "Well, I mean…"

"No," Bilbo said. "I don't believe he will." He sighed and looked away.

"So as soon as I can stop worrying about one thing, something else comes up," Karra said with a sigh. "Great, just great. Now I have to walk on eggshells around him." She looked at the hobbit. "What's wrong?"

Bilbo jumped. "Nothing, nothing's wrong. It's just…" He stopped, and looked at her for a moment. "Nothing's wrong," he said, turned, and ran down the corridor. Karra stared after him. What was that about?

She didn't stay away from the treasure sorting long. She couldn't bear to be alone in these halls—not with Fili here, and Thorin now a figure to fear. Soon she found herself back in the room full of gold, sorting and piling with the others. And really, there was some fun in it.

"Hey, Karra!" Kili called from across the room. "I dare you to climb to the top of that pile!" Karra stood, her feet buried halfway into a pile of gold. A grin spread across her face.

"Okay, sure!" Managing to extract one foot from the quicksand of gold, she took a step up the pile, and slid backwards. With a giggle, she took another step, and another, and then she began to run up the pile, gold spraying in all directions. She slipped, rolled over, clawed at the gold above her, and then she was sitting on top of the pile, grinning. Kili began to clap, and some of the others joined in. Karra giggled and nodded in acknowledgment of their praise.

"All hail queen Karra!" Fili said, and laughed. The others joined in, and soon their laughter was ringing about the hall. As it died down, Karra began to make her way back down the pile. Her foot slipped, and she slid, and then she rolled, throwing off coins in all directions, unable to stop herself. She shrieked, and felt a thump. She looked up straight into Fili's eyes.

She was sitting in his arms.

"I…I'm sorry," she said, flushing, but making no move to get down. Fili grinned, and made no move to set her down. She giggled, and he laughed, and they both looked up to see Thorin standing above them.

Karra found herself standing now, and Fili's attention was riveted on his uncle.

"The Arkenstone is in these halls," Thorin said. "Find it!" And turning, he swept from the room.

The dwarves stood in silence for a moment, and then, silently still, they turned, and went back to work. Fili stared at the place where Thorin had stood as if stunned, and then turned back, his face turned away, staring blankly ahead of him. Karra resisted the urge to tap him on the shoulder and ask what was wrong. Instead she turned and began to rummage through the nearest pile, not knowing what she was looking for; she had never known what she was looking for. She was simply following Thorin's orders—a Thorin of which she was now afraid.

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Karra sat alone in the small room once again. It was evening now—or at least she thought it was. The dwarves had scattered across Erebor, eating dinner and finding some time to themselves. Hearing a step in the doorway, she looked up to see Fili.

"Fili!" A rush of warm happiness spread over her, and she grinned at him.

"I'm worried, Karra," he said, sitting beside her on the empty chest.

"Worried?"

"About Thorin."

"Oh. We all are."

"He was always the one I could talk to, about my problems. And now…" Fili sighed, and looked away. "Now he's my problem."

_And so you came to me. _Karra smiled, trying to look reassuring. _Fili needed her. _

She was needed here.

By Fili.

"So, um, what exactly is going on with Thorin?" she asked, toying with the edges of her sleeves and finding herself unable to look him in the eye. "I mean, um, I've noticed something…"

"We've called it…" He paused. "It's been called gold sickness. He saw it consume his grandfather. My mother warned me of it many times. And to think I wasn't the one who needed the warning." He sighed. "No, I'm sorry, Karra. I'm bothering you with my troubles."

"No! No you're not. Please stay." She put a hand on his arm as he began to rise. "Please. What is gold sickness?"

"Just what it sounds. An obsession, a fixation with gold, so strong that everything else disappears." Worry creased his forehead. "I never thought I'd see my uncle…" His voice trailed off to nothing and he gazed at the far wall of the room, his eyes blank. Karra slipped her arm around his waist, wanting more than anything to say something to comfort him, to give him some hope. But the only thought that came to her mind was _I thought everything would be fine. And now it's not. _

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_Alright, now that I've posted this chapter, I am officially declaring this story on temporary hiatus. I wanted to leave you on a (somewhat) happy note. I have another writing project (not fanfiction related) that I really want and need to finish, and once I get that done, I'll get back to this one. And besides, I want to get quite a few chapters of this written and polished before I get back onto a regular posting schedule again. So there you go. I promise I'll finish this story someday!_


	33. Chapter 33-Echoes of the Past

_**Author's Note: **__I'm back! I swear I didn't die or go into a coma all summer, lol. Life happened, other writing projects took over, and my fanfiction muse took a break. Well, I'm here now, and I have seven chapters under my belt, and maybe more when I get to the end of those, but no guarantees. _

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**Chapter 33-Echoes of the Past**

Had it not been for the piles of gold, the room would have been empty. It had been days now—or more. Days of sorting, searching, piling, record-keeping. The dwarves were kept so busy they barely saw each other—Karra only caught snatches of conversation with Fili now. She sighed and leaned back against the wall, watching the others. The room was so full now they couldn't even fit the whole company within its walls.

It was about time they found another room.

Not that she would say that.

Not in front of Thorin.

She picked up a great purple jewel and turned it over in her fingers. She tossed it in the air, and, failing to catch it, watched it clatter to the floor and roll away, out of her reach. A dwarf picked it up, sending a scowl her direction, and filed it away in a pile of similar jewels, scribbling something in his notebook.

Karra sighed again. What good was she here? She stood, and with a last look at the piles of treasure, turned, and left the room.

Where was Fili? Or Bilbo? Or _anyone_ she could talk to, or have some fun with? She had explored the heck out of these halls, as far as she dared, without fear or getting lost. She had a mental map of the whole place in her head—to the west were the great rooms of treasure, then a bit past those were the sorting rooms. Down that hallway and to the left, she would pass the old apothecary, and make a right turn into the old library—the old library! There was one place, at least, that she hadn't explored in detail. Within moments, she turned the corner, and found herself standing in a small room, lined with shelves carved from stone, covered in old, dusty books. With a small smile, she lifted a leather-bound volume from the nearest shelf, and opened the cover.

The pages were covered with neat lines of small letters—dwarf runes, she supposed. She closed it, and set it back on the shelf. Picking up the next book, she found that it, too, was written in runes.

Her footsteps echoed around the small chamber as she scanned the shelves, opening book after dusty book, record after ancient record. Why hadn't she asked someone to teach her dwarf runes?

She should do that, the next opportunity she got.

She stopped next to a small corner shelf. Near the floor, hidden in the shadows, sat a small, simple book, bound in leather and tied with a cord. She lifted it from the stone shelf, and blew the dust from its surface, watching as the particles gleamed in the light from the hallway. The pages were covered with the same unknown letters, but she felt strangely attracted to the old book.

She sat at the small, stone-carved table, turning the pages one by one. She guessed it was a journal or personal record of some sort, for the writing was uneven and at times sloppy. The unfamiliar runes blurred together and she couldn't pick out a single word, but she sat there, flipping the pages, enjoying the silence and smell of the old library.

A small noise echoed through the chamber and she jumped to her feet, still holding the journal.

"I'm sorry, lass. Did I startle you?" Balin stepped forward, and his eyes rested on the journal. "What's that?"

"It's a…a journal, or something. I don't know, really. I can't read it."

Balin sat beside her. "Let me see," he said. Karra hesitated, then handed it to him, reluctant to take her hands off it.

Balin flipped through the pages, muttering some words to himself. As if he had forgotten she was there, he began to read the entries out loud, and Karra sat, leaning forward, enraptured by the personal account it gave of life here, in Erebor.

Balin stopped, and Karra jumped at the sudden silence. "Don't stop!" she cried. "This is awesome!"

The old dwarf didn't seem to hear; he sat staring at the page, a look of something like awe on his face. "Ragnar," he said softly. "His name was Ragnar." He looked up, and his eyes met Karra's. For a moment she just sat there. "Do you not know the name, lassie?"

Karra caught her breath. "Yes," she said. "Yes, I do." She took a deep breath and stared at the journal in his hands. "It was my dad's name."

Balin set the journal in her hands. She hugged it as tight as she dared to her chest, and her mind whirled with giddy excitement, unable to process what she was hearing. "Do you really think…" she finally managed. "Is it really…"

"I think it is," Balin said, and a slow smile spread over his face. "It was your father's, lass. Keep it."

Karra began to laugh. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!" She jumped to her feet and twirled around, still hugging the journal to her chest. "I can't believe it! This is actually happening!" Her voice came dangerously close to a scream. "It's my dad's!"

"Calm yourself, lassie." Laughing, Balin put a hand on her shoulder. She sat down, a huge grin still plastered on her face.

"Tell me about him!" she cried, unable to set the journal down. "You knew him, didn't you? Tell me about him!"

"I knew him only a little." Balin laughed. "He was yet young when the dragon attacked. Young, reckless, and never should have been trusted with one of the keys." He ran his finger gently along the key that still hung around Karra's neck. "I should have known he would use it, escape to another world, marry the first pretty lass that caught his eye. But then…" His eyes twinkled. "But then you would never have been born." Karra laughed, and leaned forward, her chin resting in her hands.

"Tell me more. I want to know him like you did."

"Ah, lassie. How can I tell you everything? He was a young dwarf, and, well, I wonder not that your mother fell for with him. You do resemble him, when you smile. He had a streak of mischief in him…"

They sat together in the library for what must have been hours. Balin wove stories with his words, stories of Erebor when a young dwarf wandered its halls, stories of a kingdom that was once great, stories of a dwarf he had known in those years, a dwarf who had—disappeared, found missing soon after the dragon had attacked. Karra giggled, her eyes twinkling. _And then he met my mom. _

The hours passed like minutes under the spell of the old tales. Karra forgot the troubles and worries of the last few days and sat, listening to stories of when times were good and gold was plenty—and treasure had no hold yet on the minds of dwarves.

She could stay here forever.

Footsteps were heard echoing down the hallway, and they both looked up, jerked from the spell that the hours had laid upon them. Ori skidded to a stop in the doorway, breathless and panting.

"People, Mr. Balin!" he gasped. "The survivors of Laketown! They've arrived in Dale!"

"I see." Balin stood, his face a grim mask. "I see." Karra followed him from the room, picking up the journal and hugging it close. Any troubles that Ori's news foreboded seemed far away compared to the fact that she held her father's journal in her hands.

* * *

The gate was to be fortified by sunup.

So Thorin had ordered, and so it was done. Blocks upon blocks of stone were hauled, all through the afternoon and well into the night. Karra felt she was working harder than she ever had—trying not to think of the journal that sat in her room, trying to resist the burning urge to find Fili and tell him everything that had happened that afternoon, trying not to think of her throbbing arm. The blocks she hauled were so _small_—she saw the others lift blocks larger than themselves.

"Not to worry, lass. Every bit counts," Gloin had said.

She still felt like a wimp.

Slowly, the wall began to grow—though what they thought the wounded, tired, bedraggled survivors of Laketown could do against them, she didn't know.

The work dragged on, and on, and on. Stone after stone, block after block, Thorin shouting orders, _work faster! More stone! _The shoes Karra had found in the dwarven hoard had been nice when she found them, but now she sorely missed her old, big, comfortable dwarven boots. She didn't dare leave; what would Thorin do to her?

She leaned down and looped her arms around another pitifully small piece of stone. She felt an unmistakable presence beside her, and looked up to see Fili, several large blocks stacked in his arms. "Fili!" she said. "You'll never guess what I found!"

Fili grinned in greeting. "What did you find?"

"I found—" Her voice broke off as the stone she was carrying fell to the ground with a crash. Stumbling forward, she tried to grab at the smashed pieces, only to fall to her knees. Her arm throbbed and she felt like she was floating. She felt an arm around her shoulders, and heard Fili's voice in her ear.

"Are you alright? Karra?"

"I'm fine," she mumbled. "Just help me pick this thing up again. I can't stop. Thorin said—"

"I know, but you look pale, Karra. You need to rest, you've been up all night."

"So have you."

He picked up her piece of stone and piled it on top of his. "That's no matter. Go, get some rest. I'll cover for you."

"But Thorin…"

"I said, I'll cover for you." He gave her a light nudge with his elbow. "Go on. You can't work like this all night, and your arm's injured."

Karra just stood there for a minute, looking at him. "You really mean it?" At his nod, she smiled, and hugged him around his growing pile of blocks.

He grinned, and peeled her arms from around his neck with a free arm. "I wouldn't make a scene if I were you," he said, laughing and steadying his pile of stones. "Now go." She gave him a last smile, and turned, willing herself to walk steadily.

It was just minutes later when she threw herself into bed, it seemed. Her arm throbbed, her head throbbed, and her feet hurt, but she lay there with her eyes open, staring at the shadows flickering on the ceiling. Her day had dropped from _best day of her life _to _when will this day ever end_ in just minutes. She had held her dad's journal in her hands, and she had worked nearly all night to satisfy the whims of a king who was no longer in his right mind. She watched as a corner flickered in and out of shadow.

It must have been morning when she woke; she heard voices ringing off the walls outside her room. Running her fingers through her hair and yawning, she rolled over, slipped on her old dwarf boots, and stepped out the door, nearly bumping into Dori.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "What's going on?"

"Elves!" he cried. "There's elves here, and with an army no less!"

Karra stopped, and tried to force her half-awake mind to process the news. "Elves? Did they come for Tauriel?"

Dori raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Karra shook her head, and yawned. "Nothing," she mumbled. "Did you finish the gate?"

"Ah yes, finished it soon after you went to bed," he replied. Karra opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. So she hadn't snuck out as effectively as she would have liked to have thought.

"Soo…what happens now?" she said after an awkward pause.

Dori gestured for her to follow him. "Come with me."

The walk to the front gate was longer than she thought it was, still waking from sleep, her hair and dress unkempt, and her mind running over and over the new developments. Others joined them, speaking little, an air of nervous anticipation hanging over the company.

When they finally reached the front gate, Karra hardly recognized it. In the place of the broken, smashed blocks of the day before, she saw a great wall of stone, the workmanship so perfect that she could hardly believe the dwarves had built it in one night, or that she had a part in it. Steps, embedded in the side of the wall, ran up to a platform that looked out over Dale. If thirteen dwarves could build this in one night, it was no wonder that Erebor was so huge!

Realizing that the others had gone on without her, she ran to catch up, only to skid to a stop in front of the wall. Thorin stood at the top, wearing a crown and kingly robes, and looking more haughty and royal than ever. She felt fear settle in the pit of her stomach like the rocks she had carried endlessly the night before.

But as the others moved forward, her fear of being singled out overcame her fear of their leader, and she took a deep breath, and planted her foot on the first step.

Perhaps the days of wandering Erebor and staring down endless hallways over great heights had done something for her; perhaps the platform of stone was sturdier than she had expected; whatever the reason, she found herself looking over the city of Dale without the queasiness she was used to feeling when her feet weren't planted firmly on the ground. She blinked, and looked again.

The armor of hundreds of elves glinted and shone in the sun, lining the walls of Dale. Karra shaded her eyes.

A lone figure on a white horse approached the gate far below them. For the first time, Karra felt a small wave of dizziness. She stepped back from the wall, closed her eyes, steadied herself, and looked back down again. The figure had come to a stop and was looking up at them.

Wait.

Was that who she thought it was?

"Greetings, Thorin, son of Thrain." Bard's voice echoed up off the wall. "We rejoice to find you alive beyond hope!"

Karra felt a presence at her side and looked over to see Fili. "Thank you," she whispered. "For last night."

Fili smiled, and gave a light shrug. "You looked ready to collapse. I couldn't let you just work yourself to death, Thorin's orders or no."

Karra smiled and turned away, a light flush rising in her cheeks. Turning her attention back to Bard's voice, she heard the end of his speech. "Will you not speak to me?" he said, and looked up at the balcony, awaiting an answer.

Thorin, his crowned head held high, gave a nod, a haughty nod, a nod that said _I'm only speaking to you because I want to. _He turned, and swept past the company, and down the steps.

They followed at a respectful distance behind their leader, watching in silence as he approached the wall, his face just at the level of a small hole, pride radiating from his very being. Why did he deign to speak to Bard, Karra wondered, if he clearly planned to refuse whatever was asked of him?

Bard's face appeared through the small square hole in the stone, and Karra bounced on her feet nervously as he spoke. It was gold he wanted—a share of the treasure, promised to them just days before. Karra didn't remember any such promise. But then, she seemed to miss a lot anyway. Thorin refused—of course he refused, and with most prideful manner possible. While the army of elves stood at their gate, he would never give in—though Karra couldn't help thinking it was only an excuse; if the elves weren't there, he would refuse all the same. Bard turned, and leaving the threat of war hanging over them, left.

They stood behind Thorin without speaking, just looking at him. So it had come to this, then? He refused to give only a little—a tiny fraction of his huge hoard—for what? For greed, gold lust, gold sickness?

Karra never quite knew what got into her; why she dared speak in the presence of Thorin; and she never knew whether she regretted it or not.

"In all fairness," the words came out before she could stop them, "he did kill the dragon. Don't you think that counts for something?"

Karra was unprepared for the sudden outpouring of wrath directed at her. "And so you think we should pay the men of Laketown for defeating our enemy for us?" He stepped closer, and she shrank back. "You think we should grovel at their feet and sacrifice what is ours—_our _pride, _our _treasure—simply to thank them for killing Smaug? You know nothing of war, girl." His eyes darkened, and a sneer twisted his face. "So a naïve girl, a woman who does not even know how to wield a sword, a _half dwarf,_" he spit out the word as if it tasted bitter, "a half dwarf woman would try to council me on matters that are mine and mine alone?" He swept past her, his robes flowing behind him. "We have reclaimed Erebor, and now—we defend it." And then he was gone.

Fili was at her side in an instant, his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm sorry about my uncle. He wouldn't treat you like that if he…if he were in his right mind, you know that, don't you?"

"I know." She looked away. "Don't be sorry." She closed her eyes and wormed out of Fili's embrace. "Please. Just leave me alone." Now Thorin hated her and they were going to war over a measly little amount of gold.

Nothing was fine now.

* * *

_I'm super exited to post the next chapter. Super super exited. And a little nervous. Hehe, got you wondering now, don't I?_


	34. Chapter 34-Princess of Erebor

_**Author's Note: **__I think this chapter speaks for itself. _

* * *

**Chapter 34-Princess of Erebor**

The clanging of weapons and armor and the shouts of dwarves echoed around the armory. Karra fingered a large, angular sword, closing her fingers around the hilt and lifting it from its place in an old, dusty pile of weapons.

She nearly dropped it.

That thing was _heavy. _Some dwarf she was—Thorin was right. She was naïve and didn't even know how to wield a sword. All her lessons with Fili had come to nothing—Thorin was right.

She scanned the room with a sigh. So they really were going to war. The dwarves' weapons and armor shone with a cold light. She was sure—it had to be—they couldn't really _want _war. The only one who really wanted war was Thorin—it had to be. As she scanned the grim faces of the company, fear even deeper and darker than before settled in her stomach. Surely they didn't want war—didn't want to kill the tired, wounded men of Laketown over what amounted to so small a share of gold.

She was invisible; no eyes looked her direction, no hands moved to give her weapons. They didn't expect her to fight. Did she really want to?

_Useless half-dwarf woman. _

She dropped to the floor and turned to leave. There had to be better things to do than this—this watching, this worrying and wondering. Glancing one last time back into the armory, she saw a dwarf watching her. She managed a shaky half smile and a little wave before she turned the corner into an empty hallway.

She found herself in her room before she knew where she was going, her father's journal in her hands. As she hugged it to her chest, all the worries of the last day seemed to fade into a dark mist and she remembered sitting on her dad's lap, playing with his hair, his special nickname for her. She remembered fingering the key and begging him to tell her what it was. As a little girl with an active imagination, she would have believed anything.

Even this—this adventure, this story she was living.

Still clutching the journal, as if to force her deep uneasiness even further away, she took an uncertain step from her room and down the empty corridor. After what seemed hours of wandering—though surely it was just minutes—she entered the huge, treasure filled room, and sat in the corner, letting herself admire the sheer amount of treasure in this kingdom. With a smile, she opened the journal and began to turn the pages. There seemed to be something symbolic, something _grand,_ about sitting in the ancient treasure hoard, reading her father's journal.

Digging absently in the gold at her side, she felt her fingers close around something cold and hard, and set the journal at her side. She saw a circlet peeking through the coins, a golden circlet with a large blue jewel set in the center. And it was just sitting there, waiting to be worn.

She lifted it, almost reverently, and set it on her head. Grinning now, she stood. The circlet contained her short, fluffy hair nicely. She felt like a princess—a dwarven princess. Her dad would be proud.

Laughing, she twirled, watching her skirt as it twirled around her feet, enjoying for a moment the feeling of the crown resting on her head. A shadow moved, and she stopped, a deep flush rising in her cheeks. Had someone seen her little display of silliness?

Fili stood in the doorway.

"I can explain," she blurted out. "I…I…"

"You don't need to explain." He stepped forward. He wore no armor. Karra reached to take the circlet off, but he lifted a hand to stop her. "Please don't. I like it."

Karra gulped. "Where did you come from?" she said. "I mean…I…aren't all the dwarves preparing for war?"

"Yes. That's why I'm here," he said. "I had to find you…I had to speak to you. If it comes to war, Karra, there is a possibility…" he paused, and his eyes met hers. "There is a possibility that some of us may not live to see the end."

"Don't say that!" she cried. "Don't…"

"No. Karra." Fili stood in front of her now, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes looking deeply into hers. "I couldn't go into battle without…" his voice trailed off, and he looked away. "I didn't speak before. Tradition held me back. Fear of my uncle held me back. I didn't know… He took a deep breath, and drew her just slightly closer to him. "I didn't know if you loved me."

Karra just stared at him for a moment, trying to slow her heartbeat and breathing to a normal, reasonable pace. "Fili…" She clenched her hands to stop their shaking. "Yes!" The word came out so loud it echoed around the room. "Yes! Of course! Yes!"

A grin spread over his face and he slid his arms around her waist and lifted her from the ground, swinging her in a circle, laughing, unable to keep the giddy happiness from his voice. "Oh, Karra, Karra, Karra, I was so afraid it was only a dream!"

"How could you be?" Even as she spoke, her lips twitched into a smile. "I've loved you since…well, I don't even know!" She laughed, and then the smile slowly faded. "But…why? How? I mean, I'm only a little naïve half dwarf who—"

"Karra." He cupped her face in his hands. "If I ever hear you speak my uncle's words again, I'll…" He drew her face to his and pressed a kiss to her lips. She felt a wave of giddy nervous happiness that made her want to dance in circles and fly. She felt his hand stroking her cheek, and her hands clasped around his waist. Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground. Her face was still held in his hands, and his eyes never left hers. "None of that matters." A soft smile touched his lips. "Any dwarf would be honored to be loved by you."

Karra giggled, a giggle that was somehow both nervous and joyful at the same time. "I love you, Fili!" she blurted out, just wanting to say the words again. "I love you and I'll…I'll do anything, I don't even care if Thorin hates me now!" She leaned forward and kissed him, burying her hands in his hair.

"Well," he said, as she finally pulled back. "It is custom for the women of our people to choose their husbands. I believe that settles it!" He laughed, a laugh slowly fading into a grin. "You'll be a princess, Karra, and I'll see that you're treated like one!" He drew her close, and she buried her head in his shoulder, all worries forgotten.

A coin fell clattering to the floor at the edge of the room, and they turned, his arms still clasped around her waist. Kili leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, a cocky grin plastered on his face.

"Kili…" Fili began, a look of annoyance crossing his face.

Kili grinned, his eyes glinting with mischief. "I'm happy for you," he said. "Fili, you know you don't deserve her, right? Karra, I could tell you all manner of stories…"

Karra grinned. "Please do," she said. Kili took a step forward and she held up her hand. "Later. I want to hear everything about him—after this whole battle mess is worked out."

Kili gave her a lopsided smile. "Gladly."

Fili and Karra looked at each other and grinned.

* * *

Karra looked out over the ruins of Dale, her chin resting in her hands. They hardly looked like ruins anymore—lights blazed from the windows, and here and there, a light moved from house to house in the streets. Noises and echoes drifted up to the guard tower—they were preparing for war, too, she guessed.

Not that it really mattered.

She was going to be a princess. Princess of Erebor.

Fili's wife.

She gazed out the window, barely seeing anything that went on below. She hadn't dared dream farther than—well, farther than the next time she saw Fili, the next time he spoke to her. She hadn't dared dream of being a princess—dwarven royalty! And yet, that seemed only a small thing now. Fili was the best man—the best _dwarf _she had ever known. Months ago, when he had been only a wandering dwarf, in a group of wandering dwarves, without hope of a kingdom—she would have said yes without hesitation. Though it was dark, and the torches had begun to burn low, she felt the warmth of a sunny day, and a feeling of comfortable happiness. Tomorrow seemed days away. She could think of nothing but the words _any dwarf would be honored to be loved by you_, the feeling of his hands gently drawing her towards him, and thought of the future—beyond tomorrow, beyond the war.

What would Kat say? She would be happy, of course. Karra grinned at the thought. Fili was so much more than her friend could have ever dreamed for her. A prince! For the first time in months, she wished she had her phone, and she wished she could make a call from Middle-Earth to her home. Kat's reaction would be priceless. Her friend's _tall, dark, and handsome _suddenly seemed to silly in the face of all that she had gone through with her prince.

_Her prince. _

She liked that.

The movement of a shadow and the light _pat _of a footstep pulled her from her reverie. She whirled around to see Bilbo standing in the doorway. She let out a sigh as reality settled back onto her mind. "Hi…sorry…you startled me."

"I couldn't sleep." His eyes scanned the room, and he Karra noticed a slight movement in his hand, as if he were rubbing something nervously between his fingers. "Are you tired?" he said abruptly. "You seem tired."

"No, I'm not tired at all." A light flush of happiness rose in her cheeks. "I couldn't sleep tonight if I wanted to."

"Worried?"

"Worried?" She raised an eyebrow. "No! I couldn't even worry if I wanted to. I'm too…too happy." _My gosh, that sounded cheesy. _

"Oh. Yes." Karra saw realization spread over Bilbo's face. "About Fili? Yes, yes, I'm very happy for you. I'm sure…I'm sure you'll be very happy."

"Bilbo?" Karra tilted her head and the smiled faded. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing! I was only thinking…" He fingered the edge of his blue robe. "I was only thinking…I can't imagine you would be a very good watchman in your present state of…happiness. You seemed quite lost in your thoughts when I came. You might miss something, and on a night like this, anything could happen." He gave her a slight smile. "Meaning no offense, of course. You have every right to daydream. But perhaps there might be a better place to do it than on your watch?"

"Oh!" Karra laughed. "I get it. You want to take my place."

"Well…yes." The cunning dropped from his voice, and he seemed suddenly sheepish. "I need something to…to take my thoughts off of…everything."

"Well sure, you can take my place if you want to." She shrugged, and grinned, standing from her place at the window. "Here. Go on, have at it."

"Thank you. Thank you…really."

Karra laughed, but her laugh held a questing lilt. "Really, I should be thanking you," she said. "Being the watchman isn't the most fun job in the world." She stood in the doorway for a moment. Bilbo said nothing, and she turned.

The minute she rounded the corner, she danced down the corridor, laughing, her skirt swirling around her ankles, the circlet still sitting on her head.

* * *

_EEEEEEEEEEEEE YESSSS IT FINALLY HAPPENED!_

_Um, please forgive my momentary fangirl moment there for a moment. _


	35. Chapter 35-Chaos and Madness

_**Author's Note: **__I have nothing to say. I'm still running on a high from the last chapter. ;D_

* * *

**Chapter 35-Chaos and Madness**

An army of elves stood before their gates.

Clad in shining golden armor, they stood in perfect formation, their stillness almost unnerving. Karra twisted a piece of hair around her finger, wishing she could step back and hide behind someone. Everyone wore armor except for her. The circlet seemed so insignificant now—she had felt like a queen sweeping out onto the platform beside Fili, wearing a crown.

The Elven king was speaking. Karra dropped her hand to her side and tried not to fidget, listening to his words. As he spoke, Bard, who sat beside him on a magnificent white horse, drew something from the pack at his side.

The large, white jewel shone like nothing Karra had ever seen before, a glow that seemed to come from its very depths. The Arkenstone! The heart of the mountain, _the king's jewel. _For a moment, Karra felt something seething inside her—was it anger, or fear? Shouts erupted from the balcony—shouts of rage, indignation, shock. Thorin stood silent, his eyes flaming. She heard Fili's voice beside her, crying _how did you lay your hands on the symbol of our heritage? _

"That stone belongs to the king!" Kili's shout rose above the others, and for a moment, everyone fell silent. "It is ours!"

"Then the king shall have it," Bard said with something of a shrug. Closing his hand around it, he slipped it back into his pack. "But first," he said, "he must honor his word."

Silence fell. Sudden realization hit Karra, and she turned to Bilbo. "You didn't!" she said softly, as the others began to murmur amongst themselves.

"I did," he said. "There was nothing else I could do. I couldn't let it come to war."

"But…" She shook her head, trying to understand. "But why…" Bilbo held up a finger, a look of fear on his face. Thorin had turned, and was looking at them.

"You!" His voice was hard and dark. "Did you steal it? Did you steal what was rightfully mine?" His eyes swept to Karra. "And you! You worthless half-dwarf, you were in league with him! Thieves!" He stepped forward, his face contorted with rage.

"I took it!" cried Bilbo, pushing Karra behind him. "It was me, only me! She had no part in this!"

"So you would steal from me," Thorin said, his voice soft and yet edged with intensity.

"Steal? Oh, no, no, no." Bilbo's voice shook, but he stood, looking Thorin in the eye. "I…I wouldn't call it that. I may be a burglar, but I like to think I'm an honest one." His voice steadied, and he stood straighter. "I took it as my fourteenth share of the treasure, and I'm willing to let it stand against my claim."

"You lie!" Thorin's eyes seemed to glow with madness now, and Karra could almost feel the heat. "You commiserated against me, to take what was mine, and mine alone!" His head held high, he shouted orders to the others. "Throw him from the ramparts! And you," his eyes rested on Karra again, "you are banished."

The others stepped back as if a wave had hit them. "Did you not hear me?" Thorin shouted. "I said, throw him from the ramparts! And you! Why are you still here?" His dark glance passed from Bilbo to Karra, and back to Bilbo. He seized Bilbo and shoved him towards the wall. With a cry, Karra ran forward, but Fili put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Karra, no. Let me deal with him." He gripped his uncle's arm. "Uncle, let her stay. She has done nothing." His voice was even, and calm. "And do not hurt him."

"Are you in league with them too?" Thorin's voice echoed over the plain. "She is banished! I said, throw him from the ramparts!"

"No!" cried Karra, anger rushing over her. "No, don't you dare!" She grabbed Bilbo's arm and pulled as hard as she could. Thorin raised a hand to strike her.

"Leave!" He clenched his fist. "Leave now, or risk my wrath!"

"Karra." Fili pulled her back. She felt suddenly limp. "For your sake, leave." She felt fear engulf her like a wave. Seeing Thorin's mad glance, she turned, clutched Fili's arm one last time, and ran, down the steps and into Erebor.

She ran for what seemed an eternity, her feet barely touching the ground, possessed by the fear that Thorin was behind her, ready to unleash his wrath on her. Her feet made their way through the endless maze of hallways and corridors to her room, where she collapsed on her bed, breathing in short gasps. Thorin hated her, Bilbo could be dead, and she had done nothing, only fled in fear like the worthless half-dwarf woman she was. She was banished from Erebor, in the middle of a war.

She lay, her face buried in the pillow, trying to quell the wild beating of her heart. Everything was going wrong, just when she should be the happiest girl in the world.

"Karra."

She jumped. "Go away," she said, not daring to look. "Just…go. Please."

"Karra, it's me. I can't apologize enough for my uncle's words."

Karra took a deep breath, and looked up. Fili stood in the doorway.

"Fili," she said. "I should be happy and everything's wrong."

"I know." Fili sat at the edge of the bed, stroking her hair. "I know. I'm so sorry. Please…please don't think I would _ever _stand behind what my uncle said. I would give my kingdom for you. If you are banished, so am I. You know that, Karra." She felt his hand come to a gentle rest on her hair, and he closed his eyes for a moment. "But Karra…" he began. "Did you know? About the stone."

Karra rolled over and looked up. "Not you too! Do you trust me?"

"I want to trust you, Karra. I really do. But I understand if you didn't tell him the truth."

"I didn't know! I swear I didn't." She sat up. "Fili. Please. Leave."

"But I want to trust you, Karra!"

"You want to trust me. But you can't. I understand, Fili. I get it. Just go."

"I'm sorry, Karra." Fili stood, and his shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry." He took her hand, and pressed it. "I'll be back! I promise." He opened his mouth again as if to speak, then closed it, turned, and was gone. Karra stared after him. She wanted to say _wait, don't go! _But he was gone, and she slumped back onto the bed.

She never knew how long she sat there, staring at the wall. Hours passed, it seemed. Noises began to creep into her consciousness. A crash here, a shout there, echoing down the halls as if from far away. A deep dread settled in her heart and a sudden, wild, vague fear took hold of her mind. She set one foot on the floor and took a deep breath. She set the other on the floor, closed her eyes, and took another breath. Then as if possessed by some wild notion, she took off running down the hallways and corridors, and up to the front gate.

No one was there, but the noises grew louder.

She dashed up the steps and onto the ramparts. As she laid eyes on the plain, the deep dread she had felt just moments before became a terrible reality.

Shapes swarmed in chaos over what was now a battlefield. As she stood there, her feet rooted to the platform, she saw that not only were elves and men fighting, but—dwarves? A whole army of them? And—her stomach churned.

Orcs?

There were orcs here. Where had orcs come from? Why were there orcs here? She had expected the worst, and this was worse. Her feet seemed to take a life of their own. She couldn't stop herself; she fled back down the steps and away, as far away as she could. She found herself sitting in the now empty armory, her back against the wall, trying to force herself past the crippling numbness that the morning had laid on her.

There were orcs here.

Erebor was being attacked.

And she was sitting here in the empty, useless armory, doing nothing.

But what could she do?

Nothing.

She ran her fingers over a suit of armor that hung on the wall, wondering what it must feel like to wear one of these things. It was probably heavy, even heavier than the sword she had tried—and failed—to lift last night.

Last night.

Swallowing, she lifted another sword from the wall. It was smaller, and, to her surprise, lighter. She swung it around, remembering all the lessons Fili had given her. How much did she remember?

She swung it forward, as if clashing with an orc. She plunged it into the orc's chest and grinned with imaginary triumph. Wheeling around, she lopped a head off and clashed swords with an elf. The sudden turn nearly threw her off balance, and she slipped, steadying herself with some effort. Grabbing the hilt of the sword with both hands, she dared the others to come at her.

And she imagined thousands of orcs, all swarming towards her.

And she was standing here in the armory, giggling about it.

How could she?

All laughter gone, she looked around the room one last time, and tiptoed from the armory, daring one last look back at the suits of armor covered in dust. They seemed almost eerie now. Gripped with a wild, fearful urge to see the battle again, she was off again towards the front gate before she could stop herself.

More light filtered into the halls than should have, considering the ramparts. She shivered. As she emerged from the corridor, the sight made her heart sink even deeper than she thought it could have. The gate lay smashed in pieces, debris scattered into Erebor and across the plain—the battlefield.

Karra ran forward. Why was the gate smashed? What had happened? Where were the dwarves? She swallowed, and forced herself to look out onto the battlefield. Chaos reigned. Orcs, dwarves, elves, and men fought in a whirl of ever-changing motion and Karra steadied herself against the dizziness that overwhelmed her at the sight.

"Karra!" She jumped at the sound. Bofur stood at the gate, his hair and clothes disheveled, dirty, and streaked with blood, clutching a weapon. "Karra!" he panted. "Get away from here! It's dangerous for a lass like you!"

"Bofur!" she cried. "What's happening? What's going on? Why are there orcs here? Where did the dwarf army come from?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Bofur leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. "I can't answer all your questions—not now." With a yell, an orc hurtled towards him. He plunged his sword through its chest. "I'm a bit busy." He waved his hand. "Now go! You're in danger here!"

Karra hesitated, then turned. "Um…thank you. I…I hope everything goes well!" What kind of response was that? "I mean…I'm sorry…"

"No, I understand. Go!" Bofur shoved her away, and before she even had a chance to say goodbye, he was gone again, out into the middle of the battle. She heard a horrifying yell behind her, and whirled. An orc flew off the battlefield and landed on top of her, growling and choking. She grasped both hands around the hilt of the sword she still held and shoved it upwards as hard as she could. Angry now, the orc rolled to its feet and drove her backwards, panting like a wild beast.

She could _not _let that thing enter Erebor.

She whipped around and ran as fast as she could towards the gate with a yell. The orc charged after her, spitting and spewing orcish curses. She thought she heard a shout, but the orc bore down on her so fast she could only glance in its direction. Forgetting every bit of training Fili had given her, she held her sword in front of her and threw herself at the creature. They rolled across the battlefield. She felt a searing, tearing pain in the side of her face. And then she was sitting on the orc's chest, her sword driven through its heart.

Panting, she stood. She shoved her way under an orc, and through a row of elves, towards the great, broken gate of Erebor. She swung her sword back and forth, back and forth, clearing the way in front of her. Another orc hurtled towards her and she caught its blow with her sword. Back and forth, back and forth, don't die, don't get killed, don't get stabbed, I think my arms might fall off, that doesn't matter, get back to the gates, get back to the gates.

What gates?

She couldn't see the gates anymore.

She felt a blow from behind, and her sword flew from her hand and skidded across the ground. She reached her hand forward and groped for it, but a solid blow landed on the back of her head and she saw a flash of red light, fading to white. The blue jewel of her circlet shone in front of her. The braided wires were smashed and broken. She clasped her hand around it. The orc's face was close to her now, breathing its stinking breath down her throat. She shoved the broken circlet upward. The wires collided with the orc's eye, and it let out a scream. She rolled over, snatched a shard of broken metal that lay beside her, and jumped to her feet.

She shoved the sharp metal forward, and drew blood from the orc's hand. It drew back, and she rushed at it, shoving the makeshift knife into its head. It lunged at her, growling and slathering. She swung the knife and the broken circlet wildly anywhere she could, and took off at a run towards the gates—though she didn't know now which way the gates were. She glanced behind her and the orc's blow caught her upside the head. She staggered.

The jewel fell from the circlet. She seized it, and threw it as hard as she could. It hit the orc between the eyes and it fell.

Wait a minute.

Had she killed it?

As she stood there, staring at the dead orc in front of her, the rest of the circlet fell from her hand. Above her, she saw the gates of Erebor, so close, so close. She struggled to her feet. A few more steps and she would be there...just a few more steps….

A hand grabbed her and she jerked forward. Her knife flew from her hand, and she watched it fall as if in slow motion. She lunged for it, but it flew just ahead of her and seemed to bounce along the ground. The sun shone white in her eyes. She felt as if she were floating above the battle. The throbbing in her head seemed to take over her whole body as she stumbled forward. A few more steps…that was all…

From behind, a blow knocked her to her knees. She turned to see an orc poised above her, its sword raised.

A flash of white light, mingled with red, searing pain, and the sun no longer shone in her eyes. Ahead of her, she seemed to see a vision, of her apartment, of her room in Erebor, and yet through the vision, as if in a haze, she saw the orcs swarming over the battlefield in chaos. The throbbing in her head melded with the throbbing that had taken over her whole body, and seemed to lift her from the ground, and then blackness engulfed her consciousness and she knew nothing more.

* * *

_Gosh, I'm so nervous about posting the next chapter. And also really…um…well…*evil author grin*._


	36. Chapter 36-On the Battlefield

_**Author's Note: **__And here is where I take a pretty major liberty with the movie plot, simply because it works better for this story. Basically, everything that happened on Ravenhill happens on the battlefield instead. I tried to make Ravenhill work, but I just…couldn't. _

* * *

**Chapter 36-On the Battlefield**

Karra sighed and rolled over. "I'm not ready to get up." The words felt hazy and unclear. "Just let me sleep, okay?"

"Karra." The voice came hard and clear and seemed to pound itself into her brain. "Karra."

She forced her eyes open and saw a face hovering over her, its white beard hanging so low it nearly brushed her face. "Grandpa?" Her lips barely moved as she forced the word from them. "Grandpa, what are you doing here?"

"I'm not your grandfather, lass." The face seemed happy. What was it happy about? The fact that it wasn't her grandfather? As it spoke, another face appeared in her hazy circle of vision. This one had a short brown beard, and its hair was disheveled, dirty, and streaked with something that looked red.

"Who are you then?" Who were these people? What was that vague smell that hung over and around her? "Can you just let me sleep? I'm tired, okay?"

"Karra. You need help. Can you at least try to get up?" The other face spoke for the first time. "We need to get you to the tents of the wounded."

_The tents of the what? _Was she wounded? Why was she wounded?

"Come, Karra." The long white beard moved. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah, sure." She rolled over. "I can stand." As she moved, she felt a deep stab of pain in her side. The haze disappeared as if in a flash, and memories of the last day pierced her mind. She moaned and curled into a ball.

"Come, lassie, we'll help you." Balin put an arm gently around her waist. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. As she raised herself to a sitting position, the pain pierced even deeper into her side, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

"Are you alright, Karra?" Bofur stood to the side, looking as if he wanted to help, but didn't know how.

"I guess. No. I'm fine. Help me stand." Bofur took her other hand, and with painful, slow effort, she stood. Her head throbbed so hard she thought it might burst. With hesitation, she raised her hand and touched the side of her face. It felt sticky, and her fingers came away tinged with dark red. She closed her eyes and steadied herself on Bofur's shoulder. "Am I a total mess?" she said. She felt a twinge of pain in the side of her face as she spoke, and her lips felt stiff.

"Your face is caked with blood. You've got yourself a nice scratch there, lassie." It sounded like Bofur's voice, but she couldn't be sure.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To the tents of the wounded. They'll care for you there."

Karra took a step forward, took a deep breath, and took another step, finding, to her surprise, that her legs worked. "And where are…" As she asked the question, her eyes scanned the battlefield and she saw, looking as small as a speck in the distance, a cluster of tents. Her shoulders slumped and a wave of dizziness swept over her.

"It's alright. If you need to rest, we'll rest," Balin said.

"No, no, I'm good, I'm fine." She took another step. "The sooner we get there the sooner I can lay down again, right?" A thought pierced the still-lingering haze, and she could have slapped herself for not thinking it sooner. "What happened?" she said. "I mean…what…"

"We were victorious." Balin's eyes swept over the battlefield, covered in bodies and soaked with blood and dirty, melted snow. "If you can call this victory."

"And what…" She found herself twisting a strand of hair around her finger. "And what about the…the others…Bilbo…Kili…" She winced, almost dreading the answer. "Fili…they're all safe, I…I assume?"

"We don't know, lassie." Balin looked away. "The last I saw of Fili he was fighting beside our leader. And the last I saw of Thorin, he was facing down the great, pale orc, his ancient enemy. I know nothing more."

"We've been searching the battlefield for them since the battle was won," Bofur put in.

Karra twisted her hair even harder. "Oh." Worry clenched at her heart. She longed to see Fili again, to apologize for her blunt words. A wave of dizziness washed over her again. She forced her feet to move forward, one more step, one more step.

The tents didn't seem any nearer.

The warm, heavy smell of blood hung over the battlefield. Karra stared at her feet to keep from stepping on the bodies—the bodies were everywhere, some drenched in blood, their faces white with death. Orcs, men, elves—dwarves. All dead, or dying. She wanted to look away, to tear her eyes from the gore, but where was there to look? Everywhere there was only more evidence of the battle. She heard a squish at her feet, and looked down to see that she was standing in a pool of black orcish blood.

She leaned against Balin's shoulder, fighting back the rush of nausea. "I feel sick." The words were soft and slurred.

"It's alright, rest for a moment." Balin stroked her hair and kept a supporting arm around her waist. "Just rest."

Moments later, they were moving again, Karra leaning more heavily on the older dwarf's shoulder. It seemed like hours, and yet, as Karra looked at the sky to keep her eyes off the pervasive death on the ground, she saw that the sun had barely moved.

And still, the tents seemed no closer.

Maybe she should just lie down here and wait for someone to find her body, and carry her back to the tents.

That actually sounded really good.

A figure moved across the plain toward them. Recognition dawning on his face, Balin stopped, and Karra let out a sigh. Whoever it was, she could hug them right now.

As the figure approached, Karra saw that it was Dwalin. Dirt and grime covered him, and he held a weapon at his side. His face showed the most emotion Karra had ever seen from a dwarf. Emotion? No, that wasn't it. Sadness? Grief? Horror? His eyes were hollow, and his frame seemed slumped with something more than the exhaustion of the battle. He stood in silence before Balin.

The words came out before she could stop them. "Have you seen Fili?" she blurted out. "Where is he? What happened?"

Dwalin took a step backward as if he'd been hit. "I've seen him, yes," he said, and Karra saw his eyes flicker with something like despair. "I've seen him."

A wild fear clutched at Karra's heart. "What is it? Dwalin, what is it?"

Dwalin looked at Balin and Bofur. "Get her to the tents. She's gravely wounded."

"And just what do you think we're trying to do?" Bofur burst out. "If you're not going to help, you can just leave! No…" He shook his head, regret etched on his face. "No, I'm sorry."

Karra's heart beat so hard she thought the others could hear it. "Dwalin." Her voice rose in desperation. "Dwalin, what is it? Tell me!"

But the dwarf was gone. Driven by fear, Karra took a step forward. "Come on!" she cried. "Just come on!" In spite of her desperate attempts to draw them away, her eyes scanned the battlefield, back and forth, back and forth. She tensed, and stopped. As if in a daze, she heard Balin's voice asking her what was wrong. Her eyes settled on a still from, lying among many other still forms. With a cry, she wrenched herself from Balin's grip and ran forward, dropping to her knees beside the body.

His blond hair was stained with the dirt of the battlefield. Blood seeped from his tunic near his heart. His face was pale as death. Her heart pounding, she took his hand and leaned close to his ear. "Fili," she said. "Fili, it's me. Wake up." She squeezed his hand, and he gave no response. No breath escaped his lips. _Oh no. No no no. _Numbness pierced with disbelief settled over her mind, and she slumped to the ground.

She would lay here until she died with her Fili.

* * *

_*Whispers, and curls into a little crying ball of contrite fangirl* Don't kill me…please don't kill me…_


	37. Chapter 37-Among the Living

_**Author's Note: **__Wow. I was going to update on Monday but I honestly forgot. I'm a terrible person. _

* * *

**Chapter 36-Among the Living**

Karra never knew how long she sat there, holding Fili's cold hand. The battlefield with its thousands of dead spun out of focus and she sat alone with the body that was once Fili. With everything that was left in her, she resisted, refused to believe. She wanted to run away and fall asleep and dream forever that Fili was alive. She wanted to go home. Home. If she had never left home, none of this would have happened. If it hadn't snowed that night, she would have gone to dinner with Kat and she wouldn't be sitting here, staring at her beloved's pale face, laying in the muddy brown snow.

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it. She clutched it to her chest, trying to _feel, _trying to feel the horror, the pain, the grief.

Fili was dead.

Her Fili was dead.

She needed to cry. She needed to do anything other than just sit here, time slowing to a stop, every second seeming to pound deeper into her mind the horrible fact that Fili was dead. Her hands shaking, she ran her fingers over the wound, searching with hopeless desperation for any sign of life. She felt his hand, searching for a pulse. She held her hand over his lips, and felt no breath.

She laid her head on his chest, not caring that it was stained with blood. Her head throbbed. Her side throbbed. She tried to force a sob from her throat, but it wouldn't come. Her eyes were dry—terribly dry, uncomfortable dry, _painfully _dry. She blinked.

The sun began to sink, shedding blood-red rays over the battlefield. Still she sat there, her mind numb, her head pillowed on his chest. It began to grow dark. She didn't care. She didn't care if anyone came for her now.

Just last night—it was just last night. Just last night he had taken her face in his hands, and kissed her. Just last night she had danced down the hallway hugging her father's journal. Just this morning she had told him to leave—just leave.

Just go—her last words to him_. _She rolled over, and pressed a last kiss to his lips. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry. I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry I told I told you to leave. I'm sorry. Please forgive me!" The key fell from under her shirt and lay on his chest, looking black in the starlight. She remembered his last words to her. _I'll be back! I promise. _

Silence fell, a cold, merciless silence.

A shred of mist in the cool night air; Karra caught her breath. That was all; just a tiny breath of steam. She blinked and looked again. No; she must have imagined it. The pain, the smell of battlefield gore, the weariness—she must be dreaming. A shiver ran down her spine. The moonlight cast eerie shadows over the scene. Fili's hand, resting in hers, gave a slight, almost imperceptible movement.

She jumped back, her heart beating loud in her ears. "Fili. Fili!" A tiny wisp of steam escaped his lips. She leaned closer, hardly daring to breathe. His lips parted.

She jumped to her feet. "Help!" she cried. "Somebody help me!" Her cries fell on dead air. All activity seemed to have slowed to a stop with the coming of night. Her hands shaking with desperation, she dropped to Fili's side again, searching the corners of her mind for something, _anything _she remembered about reviving someone close to death.

Nothing. She knew nothing.

She took his hand again, gently now, afraid of crushing what little life was left in his body with her touch. "Anyone?" Her voice was quieter now, and her shoulders slumped. For a moment there was silence, but now the silence didn't seem quite so cold. She ran her fingers over his chest with as much careful tenderness as she could, and lifted his tunic and placed it over the bloodied area.

A footstep fell behind her, and she turned, careful not to bump or jar Fili's body.

"Och, lassie. I'm sorry I left. I would have come for you sooner—"

"Balin!" Karra's voice quavered with nervous excitement. "You're here! I've been waiting—"

"I'm sorry, lass." Balin dropped to his knees beside her. "Come. We've come to bear his body from the battlefield."

_They still think he's dead! _"No!"

Balin wrinkled his brow. "No?"

"No! It's not…it's not his body!"

"What do you mean, lass?" For the first time, Karra saw Oin and Dwalin standing behind Balin, hidden in the nighttime shadows.

"He's…you can't just bury him!" The words tumbled out before she could stop them. "He'll die if you leave him here! I mean, I know you aren't going to leave him here. Just…what I'm saying is…" Her voice trailed off, and she saw the three dwarves looking at her with pity in their eyes. Oin put out a hand to help her to her feet.

"Come, Karra. We'll get you to the tents of the wounded."

"No! No, don't just leave him here!"

"We aren't. But, Karra," said Balin, "he would want us to care for you."

"Aye." Dwalin spoke for the first time. "The living before the…" He seemed to struggle with the word. "Before the dead."

"But he's not dead!"

The three dwarves fell silent. Karra felt a flush rising in her cheeks. She wanted to creep away and hide, away from their blank, pitying stares.

"I'm not imagining it, I swear!" What could she saw that would convince them? "I saw his hand move! And he breathed! He'll die if he stays here much longer!"

"Very well." Oin reached a hand forward again. "Come with us, we'll see that he's well cared for."

"You don't believe me!" Karra felt like a little girl trying to tell her mom she'd seen a fairy in the woods.

"I saw it happen, lassie." Dwalin's voice wavered. His shoulders slumped and Karra thought she caught a glimpse of a tear glistening in his eye. "After what I saw, there is no way he could have…lived."

Karra looked at Fili's pale face again, and she felt a deep dread creeping over her. Had Balin woken her from a feverish dream? She clutched the key and felt herself slump, the wild hope of a moment before shifting once more into a dark void of grief.

"Take me to the tents," she said.

A cry came from behind her.

"The lass is right!" cried Oin. "She's right! Fili's alive!"

Karra felt her body go weak with—was it relief? Surprise? Dwalin's arms slid around her waist and she leaned her head against him, her heart beating so hard she was afraid he would hear it. The sudden frenzy of activity whirled around her, blurred and out of focus.

Fili was alive.

She could have flown over the battlefield. She wanted to sob and laugh at the same time. She could have hugged Oin, if he wasn't scurrying around so busily. She just stood there, her mind whirling with confused emotions. In one moment, her life had gone from horrible to wonderful. She didn't care where she went or how she got there. She wanted to think but she couldn't.

The trip across the battlefield seemed to take only moments—or was it hours? She floated on a wave of elation and exhaustion, fragments of thoughts spinning past and disappearing before she could catch them. She thought she walked but she might have flown. The flap of a hastily erected tent stood before her, yellow light glowing from inside. The first and last thing she saw was a woman, sitting beside a cot, leaning over a wounded man. And then blackness swallowed her up and took her mercifully away.

* * *

_Well then._

_Once again, I have nothing to say. _


	38. Chapter 38-The Tents of the Wounded

_**Author's Note: **__I'm not in a creative author's note mood. _

* * *

**Chapter 38-The Tents of the Wounded**

A warm, yellow glow.

The sound of hushed voices.

The faint smell of oil and wax.

Karra opened her eyes and saw faded brown fabric above her. She turned her head, and her face felt oddly stiff. Forcing herself to raise her hand and touch her cheek, she felt—was it fabric? A bandage? She tried to roll onto her side, and felt a stab of pain. The tent came slowly into focus, and she saw hundreds of others laying on cots like her own, some unconscious, some in pain, some laying peacefully, their eyes closed. Among the rows of cots, women moved softly, tending to wounds and changing bandages.

She heard a light footstep, and saw a girl, just a bit younger than her, approaching. She wore a white apron and carried a bottle in one hand, and a roll of bandages in the other. Karra struggled to sit up.

"Lie still," the girl said, with an encouraging smile. "You don't need to stand in the presence of your nurse."

Karra slumped back onto her pillow. She felt the side of her dress being lifted, and a slight pressure on her side as the girl ran her fingers over the bandage that covered the deep wound. "Lie still," the girl said again. "I'm going to have a look at this." Karra felt an odd sensation, and then pain shot through her side again. She let out a small cry.

"This will only take a few moments," the girl said, her voice soft and low, and Karra squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to cry out again as the girl rubbed something cold and wet into the wound. A cool sensation spread over her side, and the pain lessened. She sighed, her tensed muscles relaxed. She heard the girl's voice as if in a haze beside her, saying something about checking something else…

As she felt the bandage on the side of her face being peeled away, she tensed, but this time she felt no pain, only a slight tingle.

"You'll likely have a scar from this," the girl was saying. "You say it doesn't hurt to talk?"

_Did I say that? _"Well…no, it doesn't. It's just a little stiff." Karra turned, and saw the girl's face next to her own. "What day is it?"

The girl laughed. "It's today," she said. "You'll have to ask someone else how long you've slept, because I'm sure I don't know."

"How soon can I leave?" She almost dreaded the answer; the thought of being confined here, in this tent full of suffering, for who knows how long, made her shudder.

The girl leaned closer and gave Karra little secret smile. "Don't tell my mother," she whispered, "you're not supposed to get up yet. But as you seem to have walked all the way across the battlefield on your own, you can try if you want." Karra rolled over with a groan and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. The sharp pain in her side had lessened to a dull ache. "I know how you feel," the girl said. "I couldn't bear being confined in my bed for days."

Karra gulped. "Days?" she said. "Is that even a possibility?"

"For anyone else, I'm sure it would be. But the way you seem to be healing, you could be out tomorrow if it pleases you! Are you a dwarf?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Dwarves are hearty and known to heal quickly," the girl said. Her eyes twinkling, she fluffed Karra's hair. "You certainly have enough hair."

Karra found herself smiling. "You don't know how many times people have commented on my hair," she said. "Yeah, I'm a dwarf. Well…" She bit her lip. "I'm…" There was something about this girl she felt she could trust, so she lowered her voice and said, "I'm only half dwarf."

"You're—what?"

"My mother was of the race of men."

"A half-dwarf!" the girl exclaimed. "I didn't know they exist!"

"They don't." Karra shifted her weight to her feet. "At least, they didn't before I—" Her legs collapsed beneath her, and she found herself sitting back on the bed, the girl's arms supporting her, breathing hard.

"That was unsuccessful." The girl's laugh held something contagious about it, and Karra found herself laughing with her. "Please, I beg you, do _not _tell my mother." She stood. "You obviously need rest, so," she snapped her fingers, "lay down and sleep, young lady."

Karra wormed herself under the covers. "I'd say _you're _the young lady," she said. And with a laugh, the girl was gone. Karra closed her eyes and tried to obey orders. She rolled over stiffly. Her eyes opened again and she stared at the ceiling, trying to form a coherent memory of the last few days. Everything was so muddled still—maybe it would always be muddled, maybe she would never quite remember this time as she should.

She heard the sound of a soft footstep, and turned to see a small figure padding through the tent, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed. He turned, and his eyes met hers.

"Bilbo!"

"Karra! You're alive." Though clearly happy, his voice held no excitement. She slid her feet over the edge of the bed, and patted the empty spot beside her.

"Come here. I need to know what's going on."

Bilbo sat silently for a moment, his head bowed. "Fili is alive," he said. "And so is Kili."

Karra felt a little smile creeping up on her. "I know."

"We were victorious," he said. "We won, the orcs are gone now." His voice was flat and held no triumph. Karra saw a vague emptiness in the hobbit's eyes. She patted him on the shoulder.

_If you can call this victory. _

"He died on the battlefield—I saw him." Bilbo finally spoke, his voice low, almost imperceptible. "I sat by him in his last moments. I saw him die."

Karra had to bite her lip to keep from asking _who? _She sat still, playing with the side of her dress, desperate worry and curiosity nearly overwhelming her. She gave him another awkward pat on the shoulder and looked away. Moment to moment seemed an eternity. Finally, she spoke.

"Bilbo?"

Bilbo jumped. "What! Oh—I'm sorry." He looked at her, and she saw grief etched on his face as he spoke. "Thorin," he said. "Thorin is dead."

Karra curled the fabric of her dress into a tight ball. Thorin? Thorin couldn't die! Not the Thorin who led them so bravely through miles of wilderness, not the Thorin who had faced down a dragon with a triumphant smile! Not Thorin! "Bilbo, I…" she began. "I…I don't know what to say." She slipped her arm around his shoulders, and sat there for a moment, her mind reeling. What would happen now? Who would be king? The last thing she remembered of him was his fist in her face. She felt a twinge of remorse. He wouldn't have wanted that. And now—he was dead.

Bilbo's voice cut into her thoughts. "Karra…he…he wanted everyone to know that he was sorry. That he…had done wrong."

"Yeah. Th…thank you." _Thank you? What kind of reply was that? _Karra winced, and looked away.

After a moment, the hobbit spoke again. "Well, I'll see you…tomorrow. He's to be buried then, you know."

"So soon?"

"They can't wait too long."

"Oh." _Right. They can't preserve bodies like they can on Earth. _It was such a heartless thought—but it was true, and they both knew it.

Bilbo stood, patting her on the shoulder awkwardly. "Well…I hope you heal quickly," he said. "Really…I do. And I…I wish you all the happiness in Middle-Earth."

Karra smiled. "Thank you. And…I'm so sorry, Bilbo. I know you loved him like a brother."

Bilbo smiled, a smile touched with sadness, and turned, disappearing out the flap of the tent. Karra sat for a while, her feet dangling off the cot, staring unseeing at the hundreds of wounded.

* * *

The bright morning sun shone through the loosely woven tent fabric. Karra opened her eyes and looked around—was it morning now? She had laid awake long into the night watching the women move softly among the many wounded warriors, wishing she could help.

Thorin was dead—their leader was dead. She had feared him, and, at times, looked up to him. And now he was just—dead. Just like that. She should be mourning for him, and yet—she wasn't.

Her eyes were drawn to a commotion at the flap of the tent. Two men bearing a litter entered. Karra thought she heard the words 'no more room' and 'too many'. The men maneuvered the litter through the rows of cots and set it to rest near her own. She looked at the pale face of the warrior it bore. His eyes were closed, and he seemed almost deathly.

Wait.

Kili?

She threw off her covers and was on her feet before she knew it. She dropped to her knees beside his cot. "Kili…Kili," she said softly. His eyes opened.

"Karra! Where am I?"

"You're in the tents of the wounded."

"What happened?"

"What happened?"

"I mean…" He took a deep breath, and let himself relax. "I mean…did we win?"

"Win? Of course! You're here, aren't you?"

"Yes…I suppose you're right. No one's told me anything."

"Really?" Why had—oh. The words tumbled out before she could stop them. "I think they want you to recover, before…" She stopped. Kili was looking at her, nervous and expectant.

Kili raised himself on one elbow, barely concealing a grimace of pain. "What is it?" he cried. "Karra, what is it? Tell me!" Karra took a deep breath, and looked at him. What had she done? "Tell me, please! I can bear it! Is it Fili?"

"No, Fili is alive," she said.

"Tauriel?"

"Tauriel?" What about Tauriel? Was she still here? Was she _alive_? "I don't know…"

"Will you find her for me?" His hand moved under the covers, and he drew a small object from his tunic. "Give her this, and tell her…tell her to keep it as a memory of me." He pressed it into her hand. It felt cool, and smooth. She slipped it into the pocket of her skirt.

"I will," she promised. "I'll find her." She got to her feet. "Now…"

"Karra. You never told me."

"What?! Oh…I…uh…" Karra wanted to run away now. She didn't know how to say this! "It's…Kili, it's…"

Kili winced. "What is it?"

"Kili, it's…it's your uncle."

His eyes flew open. "What about my uncle?"

Karra twisted a piece of hair around her finger, her mind running desperately through everything she could say. _He's dead. He died on the battlefield. No, I can't say that. Help!_

"He fell a hero," she said.

Kili stared at her, unbelieving. "He's dead? My uncle is dead?"

Karra swallowed, not wanting to see the loss in his eyes. "Yes. They're going to bury him tomorrow." _No, that's not right! I can't say that! _

"No…no…it can't be true." Kili slumped back onto the pillow, his eyes closed, confusion and fear playing across his face. "Please…you must be mistaken!"

"I'm afraid I'm not." Karra's voice shook. She took Kili's hand and pressed it. "I'm so sorry, Kili," she said. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I had to tell you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." What could she say? "I'm sorry, Kili. I…I have to go." She pressed his hand one last time, and fled, tripping over her own feet.

The minute the tent flap dropped behind her, she leaned against the fabric wall and berated herself for leaving. She had dropped the worst news of his life on him, and then just…turned around and left! She looked back at the closed tent flap. She couldn't go back. She couldn't go back in, and face Kili's grief. She would only make things worse.

A man walked by, and she ran forward, tapping him on the arm.

"Yes?" He seemed surprised to see a very short young woman looking up at him with determination on her face. "What is it?"

"Have you seen an elf, a female elf, with long red hair?" Her words tumbled out all in a rush, tripping over each other. "I need to find her."

"Well, I've seen a good amount of elves around here, miss, but I don't seem to remember having seen the one you speak of." His voice had a confused lilt. "I'm sorry…"

"No, that's fine…that's perfectly fine…bye!" Karra gave him a large smile, curtsied, and fled, somehow managing both to laugh and to cringe at her own awkwardness. Another man walked by and she ran forward, trying not to limp.

By the time evening had come, she had canvassed the tent, and the area around it. "Sir, I'm looking for a red-haired elf maiden, I think she's a warrior." "Ma'am, have you seen an elf maid around here anywhere?" "Her hair's about the same color as mine. I'm sure she's here." If she had to be the bearer of bad news, the least she could do was to keep her promise!

Her flurry of searching turned up nothing, and she found herself standing at the edge of another tent, tired, the wound in her side calling for her attention, her head throbbing.

And yet—she had been up the whole day without collapsing or needing help. She couldn't just go back and let the other women wait on her when they were in obvious need of more help. So, with a deep breath, she walked up to the woman who seemed to be in charge of the tent, pulled herself up to her full height, and said, "Excuse me, ma'am? I've come to help."

"Do you have experience caring for wounds?" The woman seemed not even to see her.

Karra gulped. "Um…no."

"Fine. You can aid in the bringing of supplies. She gestured to the far side of the tent, where a brown-haired young woman stood, a heap of bandages in her arms. "My daughter Britta will show you where to go."

"Th…thank you, ma'am." Karra gave her best curtsy, and approached the girl. She stood by a man, his eyes closed and his face pale, a deep cut piercing his arm. Karra winced and looked away, but forced herself to go forward and tap the girl on the arm. She turned.

"Now, now," she said, with a twinkle in her eye. "What are you doing up? I thought I told you to rest!"

"Oh…hi!" Karra found herself smiling against her will as she recognized her young nurse from yesterday. "I…I was told you would show me where to go."

"Oh yes! Supplies are being gathered in the tent just opposite this one. This is for the heavily wounded. As you can see, my mother has turned me into an errand-girl." She grinned, tossing a curl over her shoulder. "Come with me. We can be errand girls together."

Karra took a step, and swayed as a burst of pain shot through her side. She heard a voice near her, faraway and hazy. She felt arms around her waist, and she opened her eyes again to see Britta above her. "Sit for a moment," she said. "You need rest."

Karra sat with her head in her hands at the edge of the tent. Women's voices floated through wavering haze. "He's burning with fever," said one.

Who was burning with fever? She opened her eyes and raised her head. Two women leaned over a figure at the far edge of the tent. As they stood, she caught her breath. Fighting another wave of dizziness, she stood, and took a few uneven steps towards the figure. She dropped to her knees at the side of his cot. He lay still, his face flushed, and his chest barely moving.

"Fili," she said, slipping her hand under the covers and touching his hand. It felt warm. "It's me. Karra. I'm here."

There was no response.

"Fili," she said again, softer still, unwilling to disturb the others around her. "Fili, wake up. Your brother needs you to wake up. Your—" She stopped. _Your uncle needs you to wake up. _

_Your uncle. _

Karra swallowed back a catch in her throat. She couldn't tell Fili. Pain throbbed in her side again, and a sob wrenched itself from her throat. Not now…she couldn't cry now. She swallowed again, and tried to sit up.

She slumped forward, another sob forcing itself from her. She clutched Fili's hand, her shoulders shaking.

And she cried.

She cried for Thorin Oakenshield, the leader who would have been king. She cried for the sight of the orcs swarming over the plain. She cried for Kili, and the grief she had seen. She cried for the emptiness and death of war. She cried for Bilbo, who had lost a friend.

She cried for the hours she had lain on the battlefield, thinking her Fili was dead.

She pressed a kiss to his hand, still weeping pitiful little sobs. She lay her head on his chest. "I thought you were dead." The words caught in her throat. "I thought you were dead."

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned. Her eyes stung. Bilbo stood there, looking uncomfortable and sympathetic at the same time. "Are you coming?" he asked.

Karra swallowed. "Coming?"

"To the…memorial for Thorin."

"No!" The word came out like as shot from a gun, and she jumped. "I mean…no. I'm staying here."

Bilbo stood, playing with the edges of his tunic. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." The words caught in her throat. "I can't leave him."

* * *

_I have no schedule anymore. :/_


	39. Chapter 39-Come Back to Me

_**Author's Note: **__I've been taking a writing class and I'm learning so much. I'm also a bit dazzled with the sheer amount of things I've done wrong when writing this story! I honestly could have edited this chapter quite a bit more. :P_

* * *

**Chapter 39-Come Back to Me**

The few lamps that burned throughout the tent cast flickering shadows on the ceiling. Karra sat beside Fili's cot, her hand resting in his. Only one woman remained here. The candle in her hand cast yellow light on Fili's face. There was life there—Karra could see it.

They were burying Thorin now—they were laying him in a tomb of stone deep in the heart of the mountain. Karra's mind felt heavy, but her eyes wouldn't close. Far away, she fancied she could hear the mournful sounds of a funeral procession—but surely it was only an echo. She stared at the side of the tent, watching the shadows in their play.

Karra blinked. Had his lips moved? She clutched his hand and leaned forward, her eyes intent on his face. His eyes fluttered open and stared unseeing at the ceiling of the tent.

"Fili," she said.

"Kili," he said, his voice cracking. "Is he alive?"

Karra leaned forward, clutching Fili's hand. "Yes," she said, breathless. "He's alive. He's fine. He's alive."

"Karra. Is she well?"

Karra felt a catch in her throat. "I'm here," she said. "I'm fine."

He turned his head, and she felt his hand tighten just a bit around hers. "Karra." He struggled with the words. "Remember me…If I don't…"

Karra's face was nearly on top of his. His words were weak, barely audible. "Of course! I'll never forget you. But Fili…you're going to make it…you're…" But his eyes were closed again, and his grip on her hand failed. She slumped back. Seconds passed like hours, but he didn't move again. She felt her head slump forward, and pillowed it weakly in her arm, feeling any energy she had left drain out of her body like a sieve.

It must have been morning when she woke, for light filled the tent and the candles had gone out. She heard the voices of several women, and the soft padding of footsteps as they moved from cot to cot. She saw Fili's face sitting close to hers. She raised her head and ran her fingers through her hair, which stuck out like a bird's nest. She yawned, and forced herself to stand. She remembered her promise of the day before. Tearing her eyes from Fili's face, she gave his hand a last squeeze, and turned, reluctant to leave, yet longing to get out of this tent of suffering.

Men moved here and there on the battlefield, searching, lifting bodies on litters, piling orcs in a huge, gruesome hill. She tore her eyes from the sight and headed towards the city of Dale. She had made a promise—to find Tauriel. And she would keep it.

The pain in her side had lessened to a sharp ache, and the bandage on her face seemed to have disappeared. She touched the wound, and felt a hard scab. _You'll likely have a scar from this one. _And right in the middle of her cheek, too.

Near the walls of the city, she spotted a figure, armed with bow and arrow, red hair blowing gently in the breeze. A grin spread across her face, and she ran forward. "Tauriel! I've been looking for you!"

The figure turned. "Karra?" Tauriel seemed wan and pale, and she looked as if a wisp of wind could blow her away. "You're here?"

"Yes, I'm here!" Karra forced herself to smile, though she felt a deep stab of worry for her elven friend. "I came to give you this." She drew the object from her pocket and opened her hand to reveal a small, black stone, engraved with dwarven letters. "Kili told me to give it to you."

Karra thought she heard Tauriel catch her breath, and her voice wavered slightly as she replied. "Thank you," she said, slipping the stone from Karra's hand and clasping her own thin hand around it. "You saw him, then."

"Well, yes. He spoke to me yesterday."

Tauriel stepped backwards as if she'd been hit. Her face went pale, and then flushed, and then pale again. For a moment, Karra was worried she would faint. "He lives?" she said.

Karra blinked. "You…you didn't know that?"

"I saw him die. I saw the orc press its terrible blade through his chest." She closed her eyes. "I…I pressed this into his hands as he lay on the battlefield."

"He…he seemed pretty badly wounded, I guess I can see how you thought that?" Karra stuttered, trying to find the words. "I mean…I get it. I thought…I thought Fili…" Her voice trailed off to nothing, and she just stood there awkwardly. Suddenly, she threw her arms around Tauriel's waist. Tauriel stepped back, surprised for a moment, then smiled. She set her thin hand on Karra's head, and they just stood there, Tauriel staring unseeing at the walls of Dale, Karra's arms clasped firmly around her. Finally, she spoke.

"I must leave," she said. "My people are leaving. I must go with them."

"But…but…" Karra stepped back, clutching Tauriel's hand. "You can't see Kili one more time before you go?"

"I know of many who would not approve."

"Oh come on." Karra gave a tug on her hand. "We can get there and back again in a few minutes. You have to!"

"Give him my…" Tauriel paused, hesitating on the word. "Give him my love, and tell him that I will never forget him. I must go." She slipped her hand from Karra's and was gone, disappearing beyond the walls of the city of Dale.

Karra started for a moment at the place where she had stood, then turned, and ran as fast as she could back to the tents, not even stopping for the pain in her side.

* * *

The yellow light of candles flickered on his face once more as Karra dropped to her knees by his side. He was flushed, and she could feel the heat as she touched his hand.

_He's burning with fever. _

She laid her head beside his and ran a finger through his dirty, tangled hair.

"I need you." The words were so soft they barely escaped her lips. "Fili, I need you. Come back to me. Come back to me."

* * *

A week passed from the night of the funeral. Karra healed, and pain in her side faded to a dull ache. She was kept busy carrying bandages, sorting supplies, and helping with some of the less seriously wounded. Britta was everywhere at once, often dragging Karra behind her, and they were 'errand girls together' as the girl had said.

Treasure was hauled from the halls of Erebor and divided among the three peoples. Karra tried to stay out of the way of that mess—she had had enough of sorting treasure, and she would only get in the way. She developed a skill in winding large rolls of bandages that she never thought she had. The battlefield was cleared, and many dead warriors were buried in mounds outside of Dale. The reek of battle still hung over the plain, and would hang there for months—even years later, one could catch a whiff of orc breath, or see a blotch of blood on the muddy ground.

Karra and Britta walked from Dale one bright morning, each carrying large piles of supplies. "I noticed you slept in the heavily wounded tent last night," Britta said, in a rare moment of solemnity. "I do hope nothing's wrong."

"Well…" Karra looked away. "_I'm _fine. It's…it's Fili." A light flush crept into her cheeks. "My…" She searched for a word. "My betrothed," she finally said.

"You're…you're engaged?" Britta's face lit up and her eyes twinkled again.

Karra ducked her head and smiled. "Yes," she said. "He's…a dwarf. I mean, of course he's a dwarf. He's Thorin's nephew."

Britta stopped so quickly the large pile of supplies nearly fell from her arms. "Thorin—_King_ Thorin?"

Karra shrugged. "Yes?"

"You're to be a princess, then!"

Karra giggled. "You think I haven't thought of that? Where I come from, every girl dreams of finding her prince."

Britta grabbed Karra by the hand and started to run forward.

"Careful!" Karra bent over, taking a deep breath and putting her hand to her side.

"Oh my! I'm sorry." Britta giggled, her brown curls bouncing. "But come with me! I must tell my mother she's giving errands to a princess."

"A future princess," Karra said, and laughed. Even as she laughed, the smile faded from her face, and she stared at the large tent, filled with heavily wounded.

* * *

The flush had faded from his face now, and his cheek felt cold as she brushed a hand over it, as if his life was slipping away, heartbeat by heartbeat, moment by moment. It had been a week now. Every day, she sat by him, holding his hand, and yet he had opened his eyes only once. Every day, his fever-flushed cheeks grew paler. Was the fever fading, or was he slowly dying?

She stroked his hair, remembering that day months before when she had sat by the giant pinnacle rock and braided it.

With a soft smile, she unfastened the clasp that held his braid in place. Battlefield grime streaked his hair. As she worked her fingers through one braid after another, she found herself examining his face. There was a sort of unrest in it that she couldn't quite indentify, as if the forces of death and life were battling for supremacy within him. He looked drawn, and _tired. _She felt her heart stirred with a strange feeling of pity. Even as he laid here unconscious, did he remember her in his deepest of dreams?

She clasped his last braid. _There. He looks like a prince again. _Looking at his face, pale, cast with flickering shadows of candlelight, she thought of a funeral procession. She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it.

_Please don't die. _

* * *

"Karra."

Karra opened her eyes and raised her head with a yawn. Bilbo stood at the entrance to the tent, a cloak draped around his shoulders, a chest of treasure in his arms.

"What is it?"

"Karra, I'm leaving."

"Oh. Okay. Bye." She laid her head back down and closed her eyes. She heard the gentle padding footsteps of the hobbit's feet as he left the tent. Her eyes popped open. "Wait! Bilbo!" She jumped to her feet, giving her hair and dress a hasty swipe, and flew past the aisles of cots and out of the tent. "Bilbo!"

He cast one last look back at the tent door where she stood. "Bilbo!" she cried. "Wait!"

He turned, smiling sadly. "Karra. I wanted to bid you a final farewell."

"You're really leaving then? For good?"

Bilbo looked at his feet. "Yes," he said. "I am."

"Well…" Karra struggled with the words. "Goodbye, I guess. I mean…Bilbo…" She swallowed hard. "I don't have anything to give you, but I wish I did. You're been…well…you've been the only one who really understood…understood what it was like to be torn away from your home and dragged on an adventure…" Her words failed, and she threw her arms around his neck. "This is all I have for you." Her voice wavered. "I'll miss you, Bilbo—more than anything."

Bilbo gave her an awkward pat on the back. "It's fine, really. I don't need gifts."

Karra drew back, trying to smile. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should be the one comforting you. You were the one who lost…your…your friend." She gave a small smile, and bit her lip. "I wish you the best of everything!" she blurted out. "I hope you…have a wonderful life."

"Well…I suppose you'll be much too busy with your duties as queen to visit my humble little home on the borders of the world." He smiled now. "I'll miss you, Karra, and I wish _you _the best of happiness life can bring you." He turned, and waved one last time. Karra stood, twisting a piece of hair around her finger, watching as the small figure, a cloak thrown recklessly over its shoulders, a chest under is arms, dwindled to a speck on the road, and disappeared.

* * *

Many dwarves sat in the great council hall of Erebor. At their head sat Dain, the great, blustering, red-haired leader of the northern dwarves. Balin's voice echoed off the high stone ceiling as Karra entered at the back, and stood in the shadows.

"We do not yet know if the lad will choose to take his place as king," the old dwarf was saying. "He may choose to abdicate. If so, who will become king?"

"If Fili abdicates, then the kingship falls to his younger brother," spoke another dwarf, a stranger who Karra supposed must have come with Dain's army.

"Aye. And if he abdicates…"

"Then, I believe, the responsibility will be placed on the shoulders of our leader, Dain of the Iron Hills."

"The position might fall to him anyway," said another unknown dwarf. "At least until Fili is mature enough to rule. Why, he has barely reached marriageable age!"

_But…but…he's marrying me! _

"He is old enough to make his own decisions," Balin said. "Why, he has chosen a wife for himself already!"

Dain harrumphed. "Quite young," he said. "Quite young indeed."

_And I'm like nineteen. _Karra played with the edge of her sleeve and scanned the room. All eyes were turned to the others at the council, and no one had yet noticed her. She sighed. Maybe she should just leave. She really had no place here.

"A week now, and no news." Oin looked at the floor, his face dour.

"No news." Dwalin's face was expressionless, but Karra thought she heard a slight waver in his voice. "We cannot lose another."

"We will not. When last I saw him, it seemed to me that life was returning to him," Balin said.

"A week of councils, and still there is no decision! Will Dain be regent, or will he not?" Gloin struck the floor with the handle of his axe, and the impact sent lingering echoes around the chamber.

"We are waiting for word from the boy himself!" Dain cried. "What's taking him so long? That's what I want to know!"

"I suggest you visit him yourself," Balin said, his eyes twinkling. "Your presence alone would serve to call anyone back from the brink of death, I judge."

Dain spluttered, and looked as if he couldn't decide if Balin's words were a complement or not. Karra suppressed a giggle. Balin's eyes swept across the room and met hers, and he smiled. Karra ducked her head.

At least an hour must have passed as she stood there in the corner, listening to the councils as they dragged on, and on, and on. They moved from kingship to treasure to the rebuilding and cleaning of Erebor to treaties with the city of Dale and the elves. Karra didn't understand most of it, and what she did understand was largely uninteresting. She stood in the corner, listening, not daring to add her voice to these grand councils, though, as she would someday be queen of Erebor, she supposed she must accustom herself to such talk.

Finally, she turned, and tiptoed from the room. There were better things to than to stand uselessly and listen to indecisive dwarves debate over every issue they could think of. She found herself on the battlefield and walking towards the heavily wounded tent before she knew what she was doing, the discussion of kingship still echoing in her mind. Fili had to wake soon, or his decision would be made for him, it seemed!

If he woke.

She shoved the thought to the back of her mind as she lifted the flap of the tent and entered. Her steps directed themselves to the familiar corner where she had spent so many hours this last week. She dropped to her knees beside Fili's cot. He looked different, somehow. His face was pale as before, but there some unidentifiable quality to it that made Karra look deeper.

He was _smiling. _

"Fili," she said, taking his hand. "I'm here." His eyes opened, and met hers.

She jumped backward. "Fili!"

His hand tightened on hers. "Karra," he said. "I'm back."

Before she could stop herself, she had thrown her arms around him so hard she nearly knocked him off the cot. She was laughing, pressing a kiss to his lips, to his cheek, hugging him. If she could have, she would have pulled him up and danced around the room with him. "Careful!" He laughed. "You'll knock me back into the palaces of Mahal!"

Karra didn't know what he meant by that, and she didn't care. She drew back, perching on the side of the bed, giggling. "I've waited a week!"

"A week. So it's been a week, then." He looked around the tent, but he didn't seem to see it. "It seemed like months that I wandered the halls of death. Longing to let go—but held back by my promise."

"Your promise?"

"To come back to you."

_I'll come back—I promise. _"You mean…"

"To dwarves, a vow is sacred, unbreakable." He stroked her hand. "And I felt you calling me back, even as I felt my spirit departing. Sometimes I fancied I heard your voice, or felt you touching my hand…"

Karra leaned closer and stroked his cheek. "I was here every night," she said. "Sometimes I slept here. You opened your eyes once, and spoke to me, the night of Thorin's…" She stopped. "I…I'm sorry…"

Fili held up a hand. "No. You don't need to tell me. I already know."

Karra looked at her feet. "So you know…about everything. That you're supposed to decide…"

Fili's face was grim now. "Yes. And I know what my decision must be."

"And I'll be queen." The reality of what she had said settled on her like a weight. "Fili, I'm not ready for this!"

Fili's face lit up with a smile again, and he laughed. "Being queen is hardly any work, Karra!" he said. "I will be the one with the responsibility. All you will have to do is…well…be my wife! And I'll make that an easy job." He raised himself with painful effort to a sitting position, and slipped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer. "Don't worry, Karra. You're worthy of the kingdom's respect."

Karra giggled nervously. "I'm…I'm glad you think that."

"Of course I do." His eyes met hers, and he smiled. "Never forget it, Karra."

She leaned her head on his shoulder, and the sat together in the tents of the wounded, their future looking both bright and dim before them.

* * *

_Aaaaand…here we go again. The story is going on hiatus until I finish writing it. I have four chapters left—four chapters! But my fanfiction muse isn't working right now—at least not for this fanfiction. How many times do I have to promise I'll finish this thing? I will finish it!_


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